Pantomime - History

History

A "pantomime" in Ancient Greece was originally a group who "imitates all" accompanied by sung narrative and instrumental music, often played on the flute. The word later came to be applied to the performance itself. The pantomime was a popular form of entertainment in ancient Greece and later, Rome. Like theatre, it encompassed the genres of comedy, tragedy, and sex. No ancient pantomime libretto has survived, partly because the genre was looked down upon by the literary elite. Nonetheless, notable ancient poets such as Lucan wrote for the pantomime, no doubt in part because the work was well paid. In a speech of the late 1st century AD now lost, the orator Aelius Aristides condemned the pantomime for its erotic content and the "effeminacy" of its dancing.

In the Middle Ages, the Mummers Play was a traditional British folk play performed during the festive gatherings of both urban and rural communities and contain many of the archetypal elements of the contemporary "pantomime" such as stage fights, coarse humour and fantastic creatures. It is often claimed that many of these elements are the cultural remnants of pre Christian beliefs. The gender role reversal resembles the old festival of Twelfth Night, a combination of Epiphany and midwinter feast, when it was customary for the natural order of things to be reversed. This tradition is sometimes traced back to pre-Christian European festivals such as Samhain and Saturnalia. The pantomime horse may also be related to the Grey Mare of the British cult of the goddess Epona as it frequently surfaces in traditional British culture from Wales, Devon, Cornwall (see Obby Oss), Brittany and other parts of England.

The style and content of modern pantomime also has very clear and strong links with the continental Commedia dell'arte, a form of popular theatre that arose in Italy in the Early Modern Period, and reached England by the 16th century. A "comedy of professional artists" travelling from province to province in Italy and then France improvised and told stories which told lessons to the crowd, changing the main character depending on where they were performing. The great clown Grimaldi transformed the format. Each story had the same fixed characters: the lovers, father, servants (one being crafty and the other stupid), etc. These roles/characters can be found in today's pantomimes.