Roman Theater
The Roman theater includes a) native / indigenous theatrical events, b) events that were created under the influence of Etruscan civilization (Etruria = Tyrrinia, a region in central Italy which developed culture from the 8th century. BC), c) popular entertainment and d) artistic forms of theater.
A) native
theatrical events
It
is the first theatrical spectacle brought to Rome towards the end of
the 4th century
BC.
In atellani comedy actors were ordinary citizens rather than
professionals who
came
out shamelessly and wore
half masks in the upper half of the face. In time firm types were crystallized
such as Pantalon (maccus), the old man
(pappus), the eater (bucco),
the hunchback scholar (dossenus). The characters that atellani
theater created remained for many centuries as "theater types" in
makeshift outdoor theater and passing through the wooden scenes of
medieval fairgrounds, these types will
be the backbone of the characters of the Renaissance comedia dell 'arte. The themes of atellani
comedies revolved mainly around the mores of
farmers of Campania, and around the popular professions such as' the
barber of the village, the "fishermen" and the mockery of
the manners and customs of other people. The mockingly vulgar
expressions of atellani
dramas began to be played
as epilogues
at the end of the performances of tragedies so that the
the public went
lightly on emotions (the same role is played by the satirical drama at
the end of the Greek tragic events).
B) Etrouskini effect: Theatrical events related to rural life, everyday life, family and social relations. The performances were played in open air and were based on mimetic art, mostly dancing (dance). They were also accompanied by flute without narrative plot, without verse or prose, because the language of Etruscans would be incomprehensible to the Romans, and they aimed to the propitiation of divine forces.
C)
Popular entertainment
D) artistic forms of theater. The scholar theater in Latin literature includes initially original translations of Greek tragedies and comedies. A first contact of the inhabitants of the Italian peninsula to the Greek theater had already started from the 5th century BC through the colonies of southern Italy and Sicily. Introducer of the drama in Rome was Livius Andronicus. He translated Greek tragedies and comedies into Latin. In 204 BC the first works of Livius Andronicus were played in a makeshift tent (as there were not the subsequent majestic theater buildings of Roman civilization).
The scholar tradition of the
artistic
Roman
drama (tragedy and comedy) has
the following characteristics:
The
artistic Roman theater
includes a) tragedies 1) tragedy and 2) tragedy praetexta) and b)
comedies 1)
comedy palliata and 2) comedy
togata):
A) 1) Tragedy: the Roman tragedy was depicted as an alternation of dramatic episodes or scenes, sometimes performed by a single actor and sometimes by several persons or dancers. The performers of the great tragic monologues, the forerunners of the later operas had a highly processed way of articulation of speech and shocked the audience. The tragic characters over the years have become established roles, in which certain modes of performance have been crystallized.
2) Tragedy praetexta: the tragedy of this kind flourished in the democratic period of the Roman era (4th - 1st century BC) and draws her subjects either from myths associated with the foundation and the beginnings of Rome, or the oldest Roman history or even contemporary events of the era (opposed to the tragedies that made use of the Greek myths) aiming to portray in a vivid manner the glorious path of the Roman army against hostile nations. The actors, as the ancestors of the noble Romans, wore the official Roman dress, white robe with purple bars on the lapels (toga praetexta). The main objective of the tragedy praetexta was to honor the nobility through public spectacles in which the Roman people took place as a spectator. The spectacle was serious, rigorous, disciplined and aimed at stimulation of the patriotic feelings of the audience praising the accomplishments of great men, seeking to laud the nation of the Romans and to teach history to younger people in a funny way. The works were written in order and in contrast to the classical and Hellenistic Greece, where the theater was critical to political action and social situations, but in case of praetexta the power imposes its ideas and serves its interests. Unique whole project of this kind is Octavia attributed to Seneca.
B)
1) Comedy palliata:
hybrid species resulting from the transfer of items of New Comedy in
Latin. The
Romans actors appear on stage
wearing the pallium (= Greek tunic) and not the Roman toga. They didn’ t wear
masks and expressed themselves with the grimaces of the face
(a
technique unknown
to
the Greeks actors The
works
of comedy palliata
had
plenty of music and dance. This
was
achieved with a mixed technique
of sung parts
and recited parts. The
sung parts (cantica), unknown to Greek
comedy, were
either
great monologues or dialogues which were
performed
together with dance and song. A
peculiarity also of comedy palliata was the
performance of a role from
two
people, of which one was the actor who imitated and the other the singer
(candor). The
mimetic of the actor should be fully coordinated with the song
accompanying the
singer, so that
truly its content was given.
Representative of this type of comedy is Plautus.
2) Comedy togata: a new kind of comedy where the actors wear only the Roman robe (toga). It is presented in the last century of the democratic period (1st cent. BC) and draws her subjects from the Italian daily life opposed to palliata comedy that draws its themes from the New Comedy. The tragic faces in comedy togata are less, its duration was shorter and its content more modest than this of the comedy palliata. For the dialogues colloquial vocabulary was usually used. In comedy togata two types were formed: a) the comedia tabernaria, which was played in the taverns for amusement of the low-class and b) comedia trabeata, which took its name from trabea, the typical attire of the riders, and dramatized episodes from the lives of riders.
roman masks