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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
 More comedy and
physical humor
(slapstick)
 More violence –
especially in remakes
of Greek tragedies

Less importance
of chorus
 More use of music
like flutes
 Eventual move
toward wigs and
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)