Art 101 Worksheet: Roman Theatre

Theatre 101 Worksheet 4 Roman Theatre

Concept/Lifestyle: Blood thirsty, competitive- The Romans were competive with their plays, like today Americans are competitive with their sports

Variety entertainment- short comic plays, dancing. singing, juggling, tightrope-walking, acrobatics, trained animals, gladitorial contests, animal baiting, water ballets, mock sea fights and a host of other events.

Competitive arena- Romans built theatres both in Italy and abroad. In the time of Platus, all theatres were temporary structures.

Religious ritual: to honor Gods, new Gods invented- they still honored their Gods by performing plays and had festivals and holidays where they performed a play/plays for a certain play.

Theatre: variety entertainment,
Chorus: reduced in size in favor of character- the orchestra area never seemed to be used in the Roman comedies, which did not include a chorus.

Plays: Tragedy: reworking of Greek tragedies- Surviving playwrights: Ovid- Racine and Corneille Seneca- 9 have survived, but they apparently were not intended for public performance Psychological motivation- some idea of free will

Comedy: Character comedy Stock characters, stereotypes- A stock character is a fictional character that relies heavily on cultural types or stereotypes for its personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics.

Surviving playwrights: Plautus- (254-184 b.c.) Terence- (195-159 b.c.) Plautus and Terence both wrote together twenty-six Roman comedies

Stock Character: stereotypes-

Minor forms of drama: Mime- when you express things silently Pantomime- Comedy; preferrably a play for children

Theatre space: outdoors, daytime only, freestanding- Theatres were built