Pantomime refers to acting without words. It comes from the Greek words meaning all mimic. All actors today use a certain amount of pantomime. Many plays have silent passages in which only the movements of an actor’s arms, legs, or face express ideas. In fact, all expressive movement of the body could be considered pantomime. Ballet and opera also use some pantomime.
Pantomime began in ancient Rome. It had a single dancer who was supported by musicians and a chorus. The chorus narrated short versions of well-known Greek or Roman heroic tales, while the dancer used masks and costumes to act out various characters.
During the 1700’s, pantomime plays were popular in England and France. They owed much to a popular type of Italian comedy, commedia dell’arte, and its stock characters. Early English pantomimes always used a servant clown called Harlequin, a lovable father called Pantaloon, and a lively daughter called Columbine. In the early 1800’s, English pantomimes added a new stock character called Clown. These shows combined music and songs, dancing and acrobatic acts, and had elaborate scenery and stage effects.
During the mid-1800’s, George L. Fox, an American pantomimist, was popular as Humpty-Dumpty. Fox followed an English practice of using stage productions of fairy tales or nursery stories. Today, Christmas entertainment in Britain includes pantomimes, called pantos, that follow this practice.
