Between 1880 and 1945, theatre creators resort to pantomime to transform dramatic writing, acting and staging. Silent plays (written by Margueritte, Huysmans and Hennique, Champsaur or Gourmont) multiply at the end of the 19th century. As they reveal a " crisis of drama " (Szondi) and a " crisis of gesture " (Agamben), they stimulate the emerging theatre production (at the Cercle funambulesque in particular). As far as miming is concerned, two major trends compete. On the one hand, logocentrist mimes look for codified body movements modeled on language (Séverin, Hacks, Aubert). On the other hand, expressive mimes concentrate on attitude and look (Wague, Colette, Farina). Harmed by the advent of corporeal mime (founded by Decroux assisted by Barrault), pantomime nevertheless represented a major step in the design of stage rhythm and theatrical image (in Claudel, Cocteau, Artaud or Vitrac's plays).
