The embolium interlude was part of the mixed musical-comedy genre called mimus.
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Mimus was played without masks, and promoted stylistic realism in acting.
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Mimus calvus resembled Maccus, the buffoon from the Atellan Farce.
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Mimus was related to the genre called pantomimus, an early form of story ballet that contained no spoken dialogue.
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Although the mimes were not confined to playing stock characters, the mimus calvus was an early reappearing character.
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During the Imperial period, the games might be preceded by the form of musical-comedy variety show known as mimus, with the performers sometimes costumed as animals.
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Roman mimus was regularly performed without masks, in contrast to virtually every other form of ancient theatre for which female roles were performed by men.