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Roman Theatre History & Influences

The Romans adapted Greek theatre, emphasizing popular entertainment over moral messages. Roman theatre featured comedies based on mistaken identities and physical humor, as well as dramatizations of Greek tragedies with increased violence. Plays were performed in large stone theatres and amphitheatres, the largest being the Colosseum in Rome, which seated 50,000 spectators for events including gladiator battles.

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295 views15 pages

Roman Theatre History & Influences

The Romans adapted Greek theatre, emphasizing popular entertainment over moral messages. Roman theatre featured comedies based on mistaken identities and physical humor, as well as dramatizations of Greek tragedies with increased violence. Plays were performed in large stone theatres and amphitheatres, the largest being the Colosseum in Rome, which seated 50,000 spectators for events including gladiator battles.

Uploaded by

Lea nessa Ornedo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Roman Theatre

200s B.C.E. – 400s A.D.


Historical Influences
 Greeks placed great
emphasis on moral
values and significant
issues
 Romans were more
concerned with
popular entertainment
Bosra, Syria – preserved
Roman Amphitheatre
Big change in attitude
 Roman Theatre
became associated
with low comedy and
spectacles of violence
and death
 This lowered the
esteem of theatre in
the eyes of the
church
2 Types of Plays
 Fabula Palliata – Translations of Greek
tragedies

 Fabula Togata – Based on broadly farcical


situations and physical humor – also
includes gladiators and chariot races
Physical Space
 Romans started using Greek arena style theatres but
built up the skene building – often 3 stories tall with
elaborate arches and columns

Meridia, Spain
Physical Space

Orange – Provence, France


Djemila, Algeria

Bullring
Arles,
France
Romans made the stage a raised rectangle which
covered part of the Greek orchestra (thus making the
orchestra a “pit” in front of the stage) and containing
trap doors in the floor.
Theatre of Pompey
 Rome’s first stone
theatre
 Started in 55 BCE
 Part of elaborate
complex including
gardens
 Where Caesar was
killed
Roman Colosseum
 Started in 72 AD
 Largest Roman theatre
 Considered greatest
work of architecture and
engineering
 Seats 50,000
 Ceased entertainment
use during Medieval
times
 Earthquakes and stone
robbers caused
deterioration
Circus Maximus

•1st and largest


stadium for
chariot racing
in Roman Empire

•Held 150,000
Characteristics of Productions
 Still male performers  Less importance
 More comedy and of chorus
physical humor  More use of music
(slapstick) like flutes
 More violence –  Eventual move
especially in remakes toward wigs and
of Greek tragedies paint (make-up)
and away from
masks
Important People
 Plautus (250-184 BCE)
 Best examples of Togata
(slapstick)
 Copied Greek comedies
in Roman settings
 Used Stock Characters
 Appealed to emotions
and not the intellect
 Terence (190-159 BCE)
 Used subplots – contrasts
reactions of different
characters to same
events
 Not popular in his lifetime
but more influential later
 Seneca (4 BC-65AD)
 Wrote tragedies
 Was a philosopher
 Made Greek plays
more violent (Palliata)
Titles
 Menaechmi by Plautus
 Sometimes called The Brothers
Menaechmus
 Was the basis of Shakespeare’s Comedy of
Errors
 Ridiculous situations from mistaken identity
of a set of twins (Togata)

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