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History of Mime and Pantomime
Mime was a Greco-Roman drama art, where scenes from real life were
depicted in an exaggerated and ridiculous manner. Today, mime and
pantomime have come to mean the art of portraying a character or
telling a story using body movements, symbolic gestures and facial
expressions.
The earliest of the Greek and the Roman forms of the mime were a
farce that emphasized mimetic action. They also included dialogues
and songs. Information on mime as a drama form, before it began to
be accepted as a literary form, is very scanty. |
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In Italy, the presentation of mimes was a
traditional feature at the annual Floralia festival. The first
person to give literary form to the Roman form of the mime was
Decimus Laberius, during the first century BC. He was outdone by
Publilius Syrus. It is said that during the Roman Empire, the mime
was used as a platform to execute convicted criminals. Taking
advantage of the element of realism, real convicted criminals were
made to substitute for the actors and real executions of the
criminals were carried out. This shocked many Christian writers and
they made no secret of it. Gradually, stock characters and
situations of the classical mime found their way into the comic
drama of the dramatist, Plautus and they reappeared in their
versions in a form of Renaissance extempore entertainment, known as
commedia dell’arte, which had its roots in the Roman theatre.
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The difference between mime and
pantomime
There were basically two differences between the Roman mime and
pantomime. Firstly, the themes of the pantomimes were heavier
and loftier and, secondly, pantomime actors wore masks. The mask
effectively limited an actor’s expressions. He could not speak
dialogues or make use of facial expressions and had to depend on
hand movements.
The actors were usually dressed in a cloak and long tunic and
generally performed solo, with music as an accompaniment. But
the music was considered more a prop than anything else. The
skill of the actor was valued the most. A successful pantomime
actor often enjoyed the patronage of the royalty. Emperor Nero
was a patron of the pantomime art.
Mime and pantomime in Asian
countries
Long before the mime and pantomime was recognized as an art form
in the West, the art form existed in many parts of Asia. In
India, there are ancient treatises that make reference to
similar drama forms. The bharatanatya is said to have arisen out
of one such drama form. The art form is still said to be in
existence in some parts of the country, especially West Bengal.
In the theatre of |
A mime artist |
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China and Japan too, the mime became an
integral part of major dramatic genres. |
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Cinderella in pantomime
The origin of the English pantomime has been traced back to an art
form known as the harlequinade. During the Victorian age, the themes
for the pantomimes shifted to fairy tales. The pantomime shows were
interlaced with jugglery or acrobatics, in order that they became
wholesome entertainment for children. Some of the popular twentieth
century pantomimes were Cinderella, Aladdin, Robinson Crusoe,
Mother Goose and Blue Beard. |
