New Directions in Ancient Pantomime
ISBN13: 9780199232536ISBN10: 0199232539
Hardback,
504 pages
Dec 2008,
In Stock
Price:
$155.00 (06)
John H. Starks' essay Pantomime Actresses in Latin Inscriptions was selected as Best Article for 2008 by the Women's Classical Caucus.
Description
This is the first comprehensive and illustrated study of the most important form of theatre in the entire Roman Empire - pantomime, the ancient equivalent of ballet dancing. Performed for more than five centuries in hundreds of theatres from Portugal in the West to the Euphrates, from Gaul to North Africa, solo male dancing stars - the forerunners of Nijinsky, Nureyev, and Baryshnikov - stunned audiences with their erotic costumes, subtlety of gesture, and dazzling athleticism. In sixteen specially commissioned and complementary studies, the leading world specialists explore all aspects of the ancient pantomime dancer's performance skills, popularity, and social impact, while paying special attention to the texts that formed the basis of this distinctive art form.Features
- The first comprehensive study of ancient pantomime dancing in its social and literary context
- Contributors include all the acknowledged world specialists in the subject
- Includes new English translations of a crucial source, Jacob of Sarugh's Homilies on the Spectacles of the Theatre, and of a text which may well be the sole surviving example of a Latin pantomime libretto
About the Author(s)
Edith Hall is Professor of Classics & Drama, Royal Holloway, University of London.
Rosie Wyles is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Archive of Performances of Greek & Roman Drama, University of Oxford.
