ROMAN THEATRE
Brief Roman History
509 B.C
• Etruscan (from Etruria) ruler was
expelled, and Rome became a republic
(just as Athens became a democracy).
• Roman theatre and festivals highly
influenced by Etruscan practices
Brief Roman History
by 345 B.C
• There were over 175 festivals a year
240 B.C
• The beginnings of Roman theatre
recorded
• The first record of drama at the
ludi Romani (Roman Festival or
Roman Games).
Brief Roman History
55 B.C
• First stone theatre built in Rome by
order of Julius Caesar.
Roman Theatre
• Borrowed Greek ideas and improved (?)
upon them
• Topics less philosophical
• Entertainment tended to be grandiose,
sentimental, diversionary
Roman Theatre
• Included more than drama :
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acrobatics
gladiators
jugglers
athletics
chariots races
naumachia (sea battles)
boxing
venationes (animal fights)
Roman Theatre
3 Major Influences
• Greek Drama
• Etruscan influences, which emphasized
circus-like elements
• Fabula Atellana – which introduced
FARCE (Atella was near Naples).
Roman Theatre
Farce
• Short improvised farces, with stock
characters, similar costumes and masks
• based on domestic life or mythology
• burlesque, parody
• Most popular during the 1st century
B.C., then frequency declined
Roman Theatre
Farce
• Probably was the foundation for
commedia dell ‘Arte
• Productions included “stock”
characters:
• Bucco: braggart, boisterous
• Pappas: foolish old man
• Dossenus: swindler, drunk, hunchback
Roman Theatre
Pantomime
• solo dance, with music (lutes, pipes,
cymbals) and a chorus.
• Used masks
• The story-telling was usually
mythology or historical stories,
usually serious but sometimes
comic.
Roman Theatre
Mime
• overtook after 2nd century A.D.
• The Church did not like Mime
• Most common attributes of mime:
• Spoken
• Usually short
• Sometimes elaborate casts and
spectacle
Roman Theatre
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Serious or comic (satiric)
No masks
Had women
Violence and sex depicted literally
(Heliogabalus, ruled 218-222 A.D.,
ordered realistic sex)
• Scoffed at Christianity
Roman Festivals
• Held in honor of the gods, but much
less religious than the Greeks
• Performances at festivals probably
paid for by the state.
• Were often lengthy and included a
series of plays or events, and probably
had prizes awarded tp those who put
extra money in.
Roman Festivals
• Acting troupes (perhaps several a day)
put on theatre events.
• Festivals were sometimes repeated,
since whenever any irregularity in the
rituals occurred, the entire festival,
including the plays, had to be
repeated. (known as instauratio)
Roman Festivals
ludi = official religious festivals
these were preceded by
pompa = religious procession
Roman Festivals
ludi Romani
• oldest of the official festivals
• held in September and honored
Jupiter
• regular performance of comedy
and tragedy began in 364 B.C.
Roman Tragedy
Characteristics of Roman Tragedy
• 5 acts/episodes divided by choral
odes
• included elaborate speeches
• interested in morality
• unlike Greeks, they depicted
violence on stage
Roman Tragedy
Characteristics of Roman Tragedy
• characters dominated by a single
passion which drives them to doom (ex:
obsessiveness or revenge)
• developed technical devices such as:
soliloquies, asides, confidants
• interest in supernatural and human
connections
Roman Tragedy
Seneca (5 or 4 B.C. – 65 A.D.)
• only playwright of tragedy whose
plays survived
• Nine extant tragedies, five
adapted from Euripides (Gr.)
• Though considered to be inferior,
Seneca had a strong effect on later
dramatists.
Roman Tragedy
Seneca (5 or 4 B.C. – 65 A.D.)
• WroteThe Trojan Women, Media,
Oedipus, Agamemnon, etc., which
were all based on Greek originals
• His plays were probably closet
dramas—never presented, or even
expected to be.
Roman Comedy
Characteristics of Roman Comedy
• Chorus was abandoned
• No act or scene divisions
• Concerned everyday, domestic
affairs
• Action placed in the street
Roman Comedy
Material from only 2 playwrights
survived
• Platus (c. 254-184 B.C.)
• Terence (195 or 185-159 B.C.)
Roman Comedy
Platus (c. 254-184 B.C.)
• Very popular.
• Plays include: Pot of Gold, The
Menaechmi, Braggart Warrior
• All based on Greek New Comedies,
probably, none of which has
survived
Roman Comedy
Platus (c. 254-184 B.C.)
• Added Roman allusions, Latin
dialog, witty jokes
• varied poetic meters
• Developed Slapstick & Songs
Roman Comedy
Terence (195 or 185-159 B.C.)
• Wrote only six plays, all of which
survive, including: The Brothers,
Mother-in-Law
• More complex plots – combined
stories from Greek originals.
Roman Comedy
Terence (195 or 185-159 B.C.)
• Character and double-plots were
his forte
• Less boisterous than Plautus, less
episodic, more elegant language.
• Used Greek characters.
• Less popular than Plautus.
Roman Theatre Design
Roman Theatre Design
• First
permanent
Roman theatre
built 54 A.D.
(100 years after
the last
surviving
comedy)
Roman Theatre Design
General Characteristics
• Built on level ground with stadiumstyle seating (audience raised)
Roman Theatre Design
General Characteristics
• Stage raised to five feet
• Stages were
large –
20-40 ft deep
100-300 ft long
Roman Theatre Design
General Characteristics
• Theatre could seat 10-15,000 people
• dressing rooms
in side wings
• stage was
covered with
a room
Roman Theatre Design
General Characteristics
• trap doors were common
• cooling system – air blowing over
streams of water
• awning over the audience to protect
them from the sun
Roman Theatre Design
Scaena
• “stage house”
• joined with
audience to
form one
architectural
unit
Roman Theatre Design
Scaena frons
• front/façade of the stage house
• was painted and
had columns,
niches,
porticoes,
statues
Roman Theatre Design
Orchestra
• becomes half-circle
• was probably used for gladiators
and for the display and killing of
wild animals
• if entertainment permitted, people
were sat here
Roman Theatre Design
Vomitoria
• corridors
under the
seats that
lead onto
the
orchestra
Roman Theatre Design
Pulpitum
• the stage
Cavea
• the
auditorium
Roman Theatre Design
Other structures included:
Circus Maximus
Ampitheatres
Roman Theatre Design
Circus Maximus
• Primarily for Chariot racing
• Permitted 12 chariots to race at once
Roman Theatre Design
Ampitheatres
• For gladiator contests, wild animal
fights, and occasionally naumachia
• Had space with elevators below to
bvring up animals, etc.
Roman Actors
• Referred to as histriones, cantores
(means declaimers), and mimes –
later primarily histriones
• Mostly male – women were in
mimes
Roman Actors
• Mimes were considered inferior;
some believed they were slaves.
• In the 1st century B.C., a "star"
performer seems to have been
emphasized
Roman Actors
Style of Acting
• Mostly Greek traditions – masks,
doubling of roles
• Tragedy – slow, stately,
• Comedy—more rapid and
conversational
Roman Actors
Style of Acting
• Movements likely enlarged
• Actors probably specialized in one
type of drama, but did others
• Encores if favorite speeches given
(no attempt at "realism")
Roman Actors
Style of Acting
• Mimes – no masks
• Used Greek or Roman costumes
• Lots of music