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THEATRE HISTORY. Roman Theatre 200 BC-475 AD. Rome invaded Greece Took over their art Took over their literature Took over their theatre. Roman Theatre. 1.Theatre was frowned on by the educated Romans 2. Theatre was mainly for the lower classes
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Roman Theatre 200 BC-475 AD Rome invaded Greece Took over their art Took over their literature Took over their theatre
Roman Theatre 1.Theatre was frowned on by the educated Romans 2. Theatre was mainly for the lower classes 3. The lower classes wanted spectacle and vulgarity 4. Theatre was decadent and hollow 5. Tragedies awful, Comedies vulgar slapstick
Roman Theatre 1. The Senate was hostile to theatre 2. Pompeii- 61 BC builds a theatre put a statue of Venus in it and said it was a temple 3. Caesar wanted a theatre too
Caesar’sTheatre 1. Two wooden semicircles 2. Turned them to create seats for chariot races and gladiator contests
Roman Theatre- features 1. Raised stage - called a pulpitum- semicircle 2. Back wall- three story wall- ornate- scanea frons-three doors 3. Seating area connected to the stage 4. Audience area- covered with a roof and “air conditioned by aqua ducts from the mountains
Roman Theatre- changes to the stage 1. Added a front curtain- rolled up from the floor along tracks 2. Used a claque- a person who clapped or booed
Roman Theatre- Writers- Comedy Plautus • Copied Greek plots • Set plays in rural setting • Developed stock characters: Bucco- braggart Pappus- comic old man Maccus- gluttonous fool Dossenus- frightening hunchback • Plays were a model for Shakespeare and Moliere
Roman Theatre- Writers- Comedy Terrence • Borrowed plots from the Greeks • Eliminated the chorus • Lines accompanied by music (musical?) • Influenced the comedy of the Renaissance
Roman Theatre- Writers- Tragedy Seneca- • Plays have 5-6 actors • Very gory plots • Influenced writers in Europe in the Renaissance
Roman Theatre-costumes and masks Masks covered the head • Made of linen • Had hair attached • Wore togas/tunics • Stock characters had their own basic costumes • Mimes wore no masks
Roman Theatre-Decline Plays overshadowed by spectaculars: Gladiator contests Christians fed to lions Special coliseums held water and had sea battles Slaves on the ships fought- killed each other Helped get rid of excess slaves and prisoners Everyone was killed by the time they ended
Roman Theatre-Decline • The fall of Rome- 475 AD • Christian Church takes over • Theatre banned • Theatre in Europe, Greece, Italy became dormant • The only place theatre continued was in Asia- the Orient