CC 302/347
INTRO TO ANCIENT ROME
Outline for
Lecture 20: Entertainment & Ideology (iii).
Theater
Roman Drama
- smaller audiences than gladiatorial shows or chariot
races, but more frequent
- "decadence" of drama: no permanent theaters until late
Republic
- drama often competed with: jugglers, acrobats, boxers,
etc.
- 55 BCE first permanent theater (built by Pompey)
- the range of dramatic effects was no doubt much
increased
The Plays
- costumes and mask worn to indicate the type of person
- actors wore masks - brown for men, white for women,
etc.
- some lines were sung; usually background music.
- tricky stage effects.
Actors in Rome
- acting was a lowly profession, not for a true Roman
citizen
Comedy
- early comic form: Atellan Farce
- AF involved loose scripts, stock characters,
stereotypical situations
-Roman comedies divide into
- fabulae palliatae ("comedies in Greek dress")
- fabulae togatae ("comedies in Roman dress").
- Greek influence: New Comedy, the great ancestor of the
modern sit-com.
Plautus
- 254 to 184; first Roman poet of New Comedy
- combined influence of New Comedy, Greek Mime, and
Atellan farce
Terence
- 185-169; more directly indebted to Greek New Comedy,
more "highbrow" than Plautus
- goes beyond the bounds of stock figures and produces
authentic characters.
|