<P> Jacques Copeau, strongly influenced by Commedia dell'arte and Japanese Noh theatre, used masks in the training of his actors . Étienne Decroux, a pupil of his, was highly influenced by this and started exploring and developing the possibilities of mime and developed corporeal mime into a highly sculptural form, taking it outside the realms of naturalism . Jacques Lecoq contributed significantly to the development of mime and physical theatre with his training methods . </P> <P> The performance of mime originates at its earliest in Ancient Greece; the name is taken from a single masked dancer called Pantomimus, although performances were not necessarily silent . In Medieval Europe, early forms of mime such as mummer plays and later dumbshows evolved . In early nineteenth century Paris, Jean - Gaspard Deburau solidified the many attributes that have come to be known in modern times--the silent figure in whiteface . </P> <P> The first recorded mime was Telestēs in the play Seven Against Thebes by Aeschylus . Tragic mime was developed by Puladēs of Kilikia; comic mime was developed by Bathullos of Alexandria . </P> <P> The Roman emperor Trajan banished mime artists; Caligula favored them; Marcus Aurelius made them priests of Apollo . Nero himself acted as a mime . </P>

Who wrote the first play containing an early form of mime