ROMAN THEATRE
Feb 24, 2016
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 year240 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 Festivalsludi Romani• oldest of the official
festivals• held in September and
honored Jupiter• regular performance of
comedy and tragedy began in 364 B.C.
Roman TragedyCharacteristics 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 ComedyCharacteristics of Roman
Comedy• Chorus was abandoned• No act or scene divisions• Concerned everyday,
domestic affairs• Action placed in the street
Roman ComedyMaterial 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 DesignGeneral Characteristics• Built on level ground with
stadium-style seating (audience raised)
Roman Theatre DesignGeneral 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 DesignGeneral 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 DesignOrchestra• 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 ActorsStyle of Acting• Mostly Greek traditions –
masks, doubling of roles• Tragedy – slow, stately, • Comedy—more rapid and
conversational
Roman ActorsStyle 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 ActorsStyle of Acting• Mimes – no masks
• Used Greek or Roman costumes
• Lots of music