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Roman Drama
240 B.C. – 476 A.D.
From Greek to Roman
As Rome expanded, they borrowed elements from
Greek culture, even their gods
Instead of tragedy, Romans focused on comedy
Developed domestic comedy, similar to our
situational comedies (sitcom) today
Gave us many new theatrical terms:
Auditorium- “hearing place”
Persona-mask or character represented by the mask
Changes in Theater Design
Skene (now called
Scaenae)– 3 stories tall
with porticos
(porch/roofed
walkway) and statues
Orchestra
half circle
used by musicians
Pulpitum
raised stage for
acting
2-5 feet high
Changes cont.
Voms – entrance and
exitways for audience
Auleum-reversed
curtain, pulled upward
on poles
Theater now called the
Auditorium, not the
Theatron.
Skene
Pulpitum
Orchestra
Audience
Voms
Auleum Line
Theater Designs
Actors sometimes performed in temporary,
moveable wooden theaters.
Permanent theaters were built in 55 B.C.
Although temporary, they were still
elaborate.
Built to be free-standing and usually
removed after the festival or occasion.
Roman vs. Greek Theater Design
Orchestra: semi-circle,
used only by
musicians
One free-standing unit
Backstage entrance:
Skene with many
doors and porticos
Entrances and Exits:
Voms
Located in cities
Orchestra: circular,
used by actors and
chorus
Separate buildings
built into hills
Backstage entrance:
Proskenion and 3
doors
Entrance and Exits:
Parados
Located in country
Pompey’s Contribution
Built permanent
theater, called it a
place of worship
Placed a statue of
Venus outside to
disguise it (permanent
theatres not allowed)
Steps to the temple
were actually seats for
the spectators
Pompey continued…
It was copied by
nearly all other future
theatres in Rome and
throughout the empire.
Multipurpose-used for
meetings of the Senate
and other gatherings
Thought to be the
place Julius Caesar
was assassinated.
Roman Drama Terms
Closet Drama: A play that is better read, not
performed, because of extremely violent
scenes.
Satire: A play mocking or ridiculing society
or a well-known institution.
Farce: Comedy that is possible but highly
unlikely
Claque: Someone paid to influence the
audience to clap or shout.
Plautus
Copied Greek tales
and made them
comical
Used slapstick and
stock characters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-iZ6Tw4dg4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-iZ6Tw4dg4
Works inspired later
playwrights
Plautus cont.
Plays did not use a chorus
Did not deal with political or social issues
Depicted the trials and tribulations of
romance
Resembled modern musical comedies
About 20 fragments of his plays survive,
although he may have written over 50
Plautus’ Stock Characters
A stock character was a stereotype of a
certain person in society, stressing their
personality traits
Country Bumpkins
Inept Master
Wise servant
Young Lovers
The Braggart Soldier
What are stock characters we use today?
Terence
Freed slave
Borrowed/stole Greek
play ideas and themes
Consistently styled
after Menander
Wrote differently from
Plautus
Characterization
Subtlety of expression
Elegant language
Terence cont.
Used plot elements from 2 Greek plays and
created 1 new work
May have been the first major black
playwright in Western theater
Not as whimsical as Plautus, more literary
6 comedies survive
Seneca
Only major tragedian
Borrowed plots from
the Greeks
Served as models for
later European
playwrights
9 plays, all based on
Greek myths
Seneca’s Closet Dramas
Seneca’s plays were so gory, they were
better read than performed, making them
closet dramas:
Jocasta cuts out her womb
Oedipus blinds self onstage
Did not exploit violence, but used it to show
tragedy.
Did not use tragic flaws, obsessed with
overwhelming emotion.
Decline in Theater
Because of the growing spectacles in the
Coliseums (gladiators, lion fighting, slave/ship
fighting etc.), theater was eventually
overshadowed.
Rome fell in 476 A.D., becoming a Christian
society.
Those who went to theater instead of church were
excommunicated.
Theatrics were banned because they were sinful,
European drama dead for 500 years.