Download Introduction to Roman Stagecraft

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
Roman drama has several
origins, some native to
Italy, some imported. One
of the most important
influences on Roman
Comedy (called the fabula
palliata in Latin, after the
'Greek' cloak or pallium
worn by the actors) was
the Atellan Farce, a nonscripted theatrical form
which made use of stock
masks (characters) and
slapstick gags.

These slapstick characters and pratfalls were welded
onto the tradition of Greek New Comedy, which
was imported into Rome after its conquest of
Greece. New Comedy is the ancestor of sitcoms,
with plots focusing on domestic issues, usually
involving boy-meets-girl-parents-forbid-marriage
and the intervention of a clever slave to save the
day. The Greek versions were fairly genteel, but
Plautus and the other early Roman comic
playwrights added lively action, ferocious puns (in
Latin and Greek), rude jokes, and lots and lots of
physical comedy
The actors of Roman comedy
were all men, and about five of
them shared out all the
different roles in the play. The
costumes were fairly simple,
consisting of a tunic and a
pallium, which was long for
female characters and short for
male characters. The actors
also wore masks, which were
wildly distorted stereotypes,
not very realistic, but funny.
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Theater of Pompei, Reconstruction
These plays were
performed at
religious festivals
sponsored by junior
officials in the
Roman government.
The audience was
clearly rowdy, and
drama competed for
audience attention
with tightrope
walkers, jugglers,
and gladiatorial
combats.

Permanent stone theaters were forbidden in the city
of Rome itself by the uptight Roman government, so
the plays of Plautus and Terence were performed on
temporary wooden stages like this one. The design
is based on theatrical wall paintings from Rome,
Pompeii, and Oplontis.

The Romans also produced tragedies, and these
were more straightforward translations and
adaptations of the Greek plays of the 5th and 4th
centuries BCE. Costumes, masks, and language
were all rather inflated. Although tragedy was very
popular in Rome in the heyday of the Republic, we
have only fragments of Roman tragedy remaining,
except for the works of Seneca, which date to
between 40 and 60 CE (AD). Whether Seneca's
tragedies were ever performed is a matter of
considerable debate. Seneca violates the Greek
tradition of having violence take place offstage.
The Romans also wrote historical
plays (fabula praetexta) and
comedies set in Rome.
(The comedies of Plautus, Terence,
and their contemporaries were set in
Greece, though the characters
displayed a lot of Roman
characteristics.) These seem to have
died out soon after the Republic
began to be ruled by emperors.

The Romans remodeled many existing Greek theaters,
including the Theater of Dionysos in Athens, and the
theaters at Pompeii. They fused the skene (scaena in
Latin) with the theatron (cavea in Latin) and reshaped
the horseshoe-shaped orchestra into a semicircle. In
some cases they built in trapdoors, underground
passages, and facilities for flooding the orchestra in
order to stage aquatic games and sea battles.

The first permanent stone theater in Rome was built
by Pompey the Great, and was inaugurated in 55
BCE. He was only allowed to build his theater by
disguising it as a temple to Venus. Others soon
imitated him, including the new emperor Augustus,
who built the Theater of Marcellus in honor of his
nephew. However, none surpassed the sheer scale of
the Theatre of Pompey, which to this day remains
probably the largest theatre ever built.
Plan of the Romanized
theater at Pompeii

The Romans remodeled many
existing Greek theaters,
including the Theater of
Dionysos in Athens, and the
theaters at Pompeii. They fused
the skene (scaena in Latin) with
the theatron (cavea in Latin) and
reshaped the horseshoe-shaped
orchestra into a semicircle. In
some cases they built in
trapdoors, underground
passages, and facilities for
flooding the orchestra in order
to stage aquatic games and sea
battles.
During later imperial times
the Romans built many
enormous stone theaters all
over Europe/Africa, like
this one at Sabratha.

Very little drama as such was
performed in these theaters,
which instead hosted mimes
and pantomimes. Mimes were
acrobatic and bawdy, and
women acted in them;
pantomime was an art much
like ballet, and pantomime
dancers became the popular
celebrities of the ancient
world