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

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 :

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

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

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

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

Roman Theatre

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

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

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

Roman Tragedy
Characteristics of Roman
Tragedy
5 acts/episodes divided by
choral odes
included elaborate
speeches
interested in morality
unlike Greeks, they

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

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

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

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-inLaw
More complex plots
combined stories from

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.

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
stadium-style 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

Roman Theatre Design

Scaena frons
front/faade 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

Vomitori
a
corridors
under
the seats
that lead
onto the
orchestra

Roman Theatre Design

Pulpitum
the stage

Cavea
the
auditoriu
m

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,
Comedymore 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

Roman Actors
Style of Acting
Mimes no masks
Used Greek or Roman
costumes
Lots of music