Roman and Medieval Drama Vocabulary Words

• Plautus• Terence• Seneca• Closet play• Liturgical drama• Vernacular drama

• Mystery plays• Miracle Plays• Morality Plays• Mansion• Pageant Wagon• Cycle of plays

Evolution of Theatre - Roman

• Time period roughly 200 BC to 476 AD

• Romans conquered and assimilated cultures of surrounding areas

• Roman Theatre conventions were heavily based on Greek theatre conventions

Roman Plays - Comedy• Comedy more popular than tragedy• Comic playwrights - Plautus, Terence• Characteristics of Roman Comedy:

Chorus was abandoned No act or scene divisions

Songs or music with the dialogSubject: Everyday domestic affairs, often bawdy Action placed in the street

Roman Plays - Tragedy• Tragic Playwright - Seneca• Closet plays written to be read not

performed• Characteristics of Roman tragedy:

Plot Structure - five episodes / acts divided by choral odes

Elaborate speeches Violence and horror seen onstage - Characters dominated by a single passion (such as revenge) – drives them to doom

Roman Theatre Conventions

• Plays took place outdoors - about 2 hours long

• Actors were men who wore Roman dress, with wigs and makeup - eventually no mask

• Chorus not important - eventually abandoned

• Scenery was a street with 3 or 4 houses behind

• A place of entertainment not of worship

Roman Theatres• First permanent theatre built of

stone in 55 BC

• Seated 17,000 people - on level ground, not in hillside like Greeks

• Had half-circle shape orchestra - chorus less important

• Larger proskenon to feature actors

Other Roman Entertainments

• Romans loved sports - chariot racing

• Romans loved animal fights - bear-baiting, lions eating Christians

• Romans loved combat - gladiators

The Dark Ages• Rome Fell in 476 AD to

conquering Germanic peoples

• Roman Catholic church dominated religion, education and often politics

• Church was a vital part of civic, economic and religious life

• Common people were kept ignorant and illiterate to have power over them

The Dark Ages

• Theatre activities were outlawed due to violence and sins of Roman entertainment

• Little is known about the theatre between 600-1000 A.D

• Only drama in dark ages was traveling troupes based on Greek and Roman performing art: mime, minstrels and jugglers.

Medieval Drama• Reborn as liturgical

drama to “act out” stories so they could be understood by all

• Text was written in Latin (as was mass)

• Subject was stories from the Bible

• Performers were priests or church members

• Purpose to teach Catholic doctrine

Medieval Plays• Mystery/cycle plays based

on bible• Miracle plays based on

lives of saints• Morality plays taught a

lesson• Characteristics in common:

Aimed to teach or reinforce Church doctrineMelodramatic: good rewarded, evil punished

Vernacular Drama

• Vernacular drama (spoken in common language) took place in town squares outside the church

• Scenery was mansions in church then wagons - wheeled platforms that could move from place to place

• Costumes were church clothing with accessories

“Noah’s Ark” presented as part of a cycle of plays