Ancient Roman Theatre
Evidence of early Roman theater dates back to about 346 B.C. Roman drama was borrowed and adapted from Greece like most of the fine arts were. At this point in time in Roman history theater shows were in honor of a particular God.
Something that characterized Roman entertainment was the variety that was available and the amount of people there were to be entertained. It proved hard to keep them entertained. Theater performance started to become less cultivated throughout time in attempt to capture the attention of the Roman audience. Theater became solely for entertainment purposes with the use of obscene, rude, and offensive humor.
Roman theater changed with the times, population, culture, and politics of the masses. In the first century B.C. many changes had take place both politically and culturally therefor the theater again had to adjust itself to the Roman population to keep audiences coming. The most successful Roman theater genres were a type of comedy Mime and Pantomime.
Something that characterized Roman entertainment was the variety that was available and the amount of people there were to be entertained. It proved hard to keep them entertained. Theater performance started to become less cultivated throughout time in attempt to capture the attention of the Roman audience. Theater became solely for entertainment purposes with the use of obscene, rude, and offensive humor.
Roman theater changed with the times, population, culture, and politics of the masses. In the first century B.C. many changes had take place both politically and culturally therefor the theater again had to adjust itself to the Roman population to keep audiences coming. The most successful Roman theater genres were a type of comedy Mime and Pantomime.
The actors in these plays were often slaves and freed men from the East. This was due to the Roman laws that saw acting as not being a suitable activity for a distinguished Roman and were unable to hold any office position in Rome. Though, a talented pantomimus could become a public Roman icon. The Roman senate distaste for the theater could also be seen in the senate ban against erecting a permanent theater. Republican Rome had thought of permanent theaters as an unnecessary display of lavish luxury. This of course was until Pompey dedicated his theater in 55 B.C. This was the first permanent Roman theater. Before that they were temporary structures built specifically the plays at the religious festivals and then torn down at the end of the festival.
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Mime & Pantomime
Mime was a genre that had incorporated adventure, unrestrained sexual tones, and violence. Typically female roles were played by men but in the genre females actually played the roles of female characters. Instead of masks females would wear heavy make up. There were also music and choruses incorporated into this genre of theater. |
Pantomime was the more sophisticated of the two genres. In this type of musical comedy there was one main actor who took on many roles. This central actor was referred to as the pantomimus. This actor would portray the roles using different masks. There were supporting people in the play also who danced, sang, and who were musicians. The actors in this genre would mime the action of the story, but most of the story was done by one person. This was usually based on a mythological character. |
Roman Comedic Writers
By 100 B.C. the Romans had a rather large collection of original comedies to their name. The main Roman comedic composers were Plautus and Terrence.
Terrence
Terrence was born a North African slave that was brought to Rome. He took his master's name after being freed. His plays were performed in Rome between 165-160 B.C. Similar to Plautus, his play were based on Greek originals. Bother the plays of Plautus and Terrence dealt with matters of the heart and misunderstandings derived from foolishness.
Plautus
Plautus was born in the second century Rome. He used Greek comedy as a model for his own writings and he wrote in rhyme. Plautus was responsible for approximately 130 plays, but only 21 of them have survived. His plays were performed at Roman religious festivals.
Roman Tragedy
The earliest evidence of a Roman writer of tragedy is Ennius. He was born in 239 B.C. Some of his work survived in pieces. He also had been a writer of satire and comedy. The most famous Roman writer of Tragedy was Seneca who was the teacher of the Roman Emperor Nero. Ten tragedies have survived by Seneca. Seneca too modeled her plays after the Greek, but Seneca brings in horrific, sensational, and radical characters and plots into the plays. It is thought that this could have been due to the brutality of entertainment in Rome with the amphitheater. These plays will encounter popularity again in Elizabethan England. |
Roman Costumes & Masks
Costumes and masks were typical in theater. Roman costumes would depend on the type of play they were doing but became more and more realistic as time progressed. Masks on the other hand were usually more exaggerated and vulgar. Masks were worn by actors who had many roles in the play. Masks were very important to the pantomime genre. The masks in the plays were often based on the characters they were representing, but a caricature of them, very exaggerated version. Comedic masks were known for their giant smiles.
A lot of people saw Roman theater as more of a circus act than as a fine art. |