A poet of silence: Edward Petherbridge and the Pyladean tradition

Abstract

The focus of this article is the ancient pantomimic or Pyladean tradition and, specifically, its reception in the work of British actor Edward Petherbridge. Pantomime was a balletstyle entertainment, which flourished in the Graeco-Roman world between the end of the first century BCE and the end of the sixth century CE. It involved a solo dancer (predominantly male and masked), who enacted successively the various characters in a specified plot to the accompaniment of instrumental music and sung narrative. Its essentialcharacteristicwascorporealeloquence.Petherbridgeisanactorwhousesboth movement and stillness to communicate character in a way that is dance-like. The Pyladean qualitiesIbelieve heexemplifiesinclude: thesilent embodiment andexposition of character; precision in posture, gesture and rhythm; cheironomia (the measured motion of the hands); and display of mind in terms bodily. In the course of the article, I examine these Pyladean attributes in relation to the principles expounded by Lucian in his treatise De Saltatione (On Dancing). I look at Petherbridge’s dancer’s ‘line’, his training in movement and mime, and, with examples from a few of his most celebrated roles, his use of physical nuance in the delineation and undoing of character. 2ll’ 7per 7sh 3 Puqik1” crhsm0”, deK t1 nq e0menon 5rchsin ka1 kwsoN suni0nai ka1 m1 lal0onto” toN 2rchstoN 2ko0ein. In the words of the Delphic oracle, whosoever beholds dancing must be able ‘to understand the mute and hear the silent’ dancer. (Lucian, De Saltatione, 62)