ROMAN THEATRE

Brief Roman History509 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

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.

Brief Roman History

Roman Theatre

• Borrowed Greek ideas and improved (?) upon them

• Topics less philosophical

• Entertainment tended to be grandiose, sentimental, diversionary

• 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 near Naples).

Roman Theatre

Roman TheatreFarce• 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 TheatreFarce• Probably was the foundation

for commedia dell ‘Arte

• Productions included “stock” characters:• Bucco: braggart, boisterous

• Pappas: foolish old man

• Dossenus: swindler, drunk, hunchback

Roman TheatrePantomime

• 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 TheatreMime• 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

• 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 TragedyCharacteristics 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 TragedySeneca (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 TragedySeneca (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 ComedyPlatus (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 ComedyPlatus (c. 254-184 B.C.)• Added Roman allusions,

Latin dialog, witty jokes

• varied poetic meters

• Developed Slapstick & Songs

Roman ComedyTerence (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 ComedyTerence (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

stadium-style seating (audience raised)

Roman Theatre Design

General Characteristics• Stage raised to five feet

• Stages were large – 20-40 ft deep100-300 ft long

Roman Theatre DesignGeneral 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 DesignScaena

• “stage house”

• joined with audience to form one

architectural unit

Roman Theatre DesignScaena 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 DesignVomitori

a• corridors

under the seats that lead onto the orchestra

Roman Theatre DesignPulpitum• the stage

Cavea• the

auditorium

Roman Theatre DesignOther structures

included:

Circus Maximus

Ampitheatres

Roman Theatre DesignCircus Maximus• Primarily for Chariot racing• Permitted 12 chariots to race

at once

Roman Theatre DesignAmpitheatres• 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