Theatre of Ancient Rome
Drama 1
Fall 2003
Roman History
• There are two main periods in Roman
history
– 500BCE-27BCE—The Republic
– 27BCE-476AD—The Empire
• Romans liked festivals and had many types
of entertainment. Festivals were called ludi
Romani.
• In Caesar’s time, there were more than 100
holidays per year!
Roman Entertainments
• Gladiators—fought each other and
sometimes wild animals.
• Condemned prisoners and Christians
(remember, Rome is not Christian yet) were
thrown to wild animals.
• Naumachina—the floor was flooded with
water for mock navy battles.
• Chariot races—the most popular form of
entertainment
Competitive Entertainments
• Theatre as we know it (comedy, tragedy, etc)
had to compete with these other forms of
entertainment (gladiators, chariot races, etc).
• Romans had a great blood-lust. They adored
violence. So, oftentimes, theatre lost.
• All Roman entertainment (including theatre)
used much violence and weaponry.
Oftentimes, prisoners were used and killed
during a performance.
Spaces for Entertainments
• The Circus—an
oblong arena
– The Circus
Maximus was in
Rome and held
180,000 spectators
– Chariot races were
held in a circus
• The Amphitheatre—
a circular arena
(audience on all sides)
– The Coliseum
– Gladiator battles,
Naumachina, and wild
animal battles were
fought in
amphitheatres
Roman Theatre Architecture
• Permanent buildings were slow to develop.
• The first permanent Roman theatre was
built at Pompei in 75 BCE
• Theatres sat between 10,000 and 40,000
people. This is less than Grecian theatres,
but still very large.
• Theatres were built on level ground—not
hillsides as in Greece.
Roman Theatre Architecture
• The orchestra was a
half-circle (rather than
a circle as in Greece).
• Romans added the
first stage, the
pulpitum, that was
raised 5 feet above the
level of the orchestra
and reached by
staircases.
• The permanent scene
house was called the
scaenae frons (rather
than skene in Greece)
– 3 stories (rather than
2)
– Minimum of 3 doors
(rather than
maximum)
– Very ornate building
with columns, niches,
statues and gilding
Roman Theatre Architecture
• The passages into the theatres were similar
to Greek paradoi, but they were covered and
called vomitoria.
• Romans designed a ceiling called the
auleum that jutted out over the stage. It did
not cover the audience or the orchestra.
• Romans also added a curtain (around 133
BCE) that was hung off of the edge of the
auleum and dropped into a trough (ditch) at
the edge of the stage.
Roman Tragedy and a Tragic Playwright
• Roman tragedies were mostly translations
of Greek tragedies. They were not as
important to Roman theatre history as
comedy was.
– Seneca (5BCE-65AD)—re-wrote 5-act plays
with choral interludes, had many violent actions
and frequent use of ghosts and magic
– The Trojan Women, Oedipus, Medea
• Closet dramas are plays not meant to be
performed in front of an audience.
Roman Comedy
• Roman comedy was based on Greek new
comedy (the ones Menander wrote) with a
few important changes.
– The chorus was abandoned.
– The musical elements associated with the
chorus were scattered throughout the play.
– All of the action took place on the street.
– The plays dealt with affairs of the well-to-do
middle class and every day domestic affairs.
Roman Comic Playwrights
• Plautus (254BCE-184BCE)—re-wrote 21 plays
including The Menaechmi and The Pot of Gold
that were all versions of Greek plays. He was
more concerned with making audiences laugh than
with plot and characterization.
• Terence—wrote 6 plays including The Eunuch and
The Brothers. Was actually a freed slave who had
been educated by his master. He is the first black
playwright. His works were written for the upper
class and had careful construction and fine
characterization.
A New Type of Theatre
• The fabula Atellana (Atellan farce) had stock
characters (characters that represent a stereotyped
role—the beggar, the miser, etc—and remained
the same from theatre to theatre. Music and dance
were very important. They emphasized
buffoonery, trickery and cheating. They had rural
settings. They were short farces (slapstick
comedy) that became popular around the 1st
century BCE
More New Types of Theatre
• Mime—female roles
were played by
WOMEN!
– Romans were the
first to use women on
stage
– Actors did NOT wear
masks
– Subjects were drawn
from urban life
– Language was
frequently indecent
• Pantomime—a silent,
interpretive dance
similar to mime today.
– Performed by a lone
actor who played many
roles indicated by a
mask with a CLOSED
mouth
– There was chorus that
narrated the story
– Story lines were
serious and drawn
from mythology
Roman Masks
• Masks for tragedy were greatly exaggerated
(as opposed to those from Greek comedies).
• Some masks were designed with one
cheerful and one serious side as a way of
indicating a character’s change in mood
without a change of mask.
• Pantomime actors’ masks had closed
mouths.
• Mime actors did not use masks.
Roman Comic Costumes
• Costumes for comedies used everyday
dress. If it was a Greek comedy, Greek
costumes were worn (chiton, kothornos,
onkos). If it was a Roman comedy, Roman
costumes were worn.
• Roman dress was typically a toga—actually
a cloak, not just a sheet wrapped around
you.
More Roman Costumes
• Roman tragedies were similar to comedies,
except that the toga had a purple border.
• Mime actors wore a tunic with a hood that
could be used for disguise.
• Pantomime costumes were baggy and
allowed for freedom of movement since
they actors had to dance. They consisted of
a tunic and a cloak.
Fabula Atellana Costumes and Masks
• Each of the stock characters had his own
standardized mask and costume.
• These remained the same between theatre
groups.
– All “beggars” in all theatres were dressed the
same and had the same mask.
– Likewise with all the other characters.
• They were exaggerated forms of country
dress.
Roman Critic
• Horace—Roman, wrote The Art of Poetry.
– He became a rule-maker.
– His rules were:
• A 5-act play standard
• No more than 3 actors on stage at a time
• As you can see, neither critic’s rules are still
in use today.
A Typical Roman Theatre
Scaenae frons and pulpitum
Outside view of a theatre
Ground plan of a Roman theatre
Scaenae frons detail
Vomitoria and details of scaenae frons