Download Roman Theatre

History of Theatre:
Roman
Starter:
• If you had lived during the primitive time, do you think it would have been
hard for you to communicate with others around you? Why or why not?
Roman Theatre:
• The Romans were greatly influenced by Greek Theatre.
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Less religious based than Greeks
• Comedy based rather than Tragedy based
• Didn’t want to offend Roman citizens stories based on Greek Actors
• Romans wanted control
• Built everything freestanding Copied Greek idea of large gathering
centers
• Adapted to their own types of entertainment
Roman Tragedy:
• Characteristics of Roman Tragedy
• 5 acts/episodes divided by choral odes
• Included elaborate speeches
• Soliloquies, asides, confidants
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Soliloquy: A character, on an empty stage, speaks directly to the audience
Aside: A character speaks to the audience, but the other characters on stage do not hear
Confidant: A character who listen to and often gives advise to another character
• Unlike Greeks, they depicted violence on stage
• Characters dominated by a single passion which drives them to doom (ex:
obsessiveness or revenge)
• Interest in supernatural and human connections
Roman Comedies:
• Characteristics of Roman Comedy
• Chorus was abandoned
• No act or scene divisions
• Concerned everyday, domestic affairs
• Action placed in the street
• Mistaken Identity
Roman Theatre
Farce
•Short improvised farces, with stock
characters, similar costumes and masks
•based on domestic life or mythology
•Most popular during the 1st century
B.C., then frequency declined
•Probably was the foundation for
commedia dell ‘Arte
The Acting:
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Very over the top Noise Levels
Chorus had a less important role
Single parts rather than multiple characters
Stock characters play a bigger role
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Easily identifiable
Mostly male, but some female
Create a code to tell the audience who they were:
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A black wig: the character was a young man
A red wig: the character was a slave.
A yellow robe: the character was a woman
A yellow tassel: the character was a god.
Stock Characters:
• Stereotypical Character easily recognized by the
audience
• They wore mask so that the audience could recognise
the stock characters.
Examples of stock characters
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The Fisherman
The Farmer
The Superstitious Man
The Peevish Man
The Promiser
The Heiress
The Priestess
The False Accuser
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The Misogynist
The Hated Man
The Shipmaster
The Slave
The Concubine
The Soldiers
The Widow
The Noise-Shy Man
The Audience:
• Rude and disrespectful
• The audience was usually more interested in their favorite actors than the
play itself.
• The actors would try to win over the audience's praise with decorative
masks, costumes, dancing and mime.
• If the play scripted an actor's dying, a condemned man would take the place
of the actor at the last moment and actually be killed on stage. The Romans
loved the bloodthirsty spectacles
Roman Theatre Design
Roman Theatre Design
•First permanent
Roman theatre
built 54 A.D.
Roman Theatre Design
General Characteristics
•Built on level ground with stadiumstyle 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
Scaena
• “stage house”
• joined with
audience to
form one
architectural
unit
Roman Theatre Design
Scaena 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
Other Forms of
Entertainment
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.
Naumachia
Decline of Roman Theatre
•Rise of Christianity Christian Church opposed the
theatre because of connection with Pagan religions
•Greeks founded theatre to celebrate Dionysus
•Immoral Characters and taught immorality to
audiences
•1000 years of theatrical development comes to an end
Greek vs Roman Theatre: Differences
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Tragedy is Central Focus  concerned gods
Theatres built into hillsides
Orchestra was circular and used as a
performance space
3 actors play multiple roles and Chorus
Did not believe in Violence on stage
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Comedy is central Focus  Romantic
situations
Built amphitheaters above Ground
Orchestra was semicircular and used as seating
Unlimited number of actors playing single role
and no chorus
Loved to watch bloody forms of entertainment