Slide 1 Notes : Not a great deal written about it. However a lot of information available that can be used.

Transcription

1 Slide 1 Notes : Not a great deal written about it. However a lot of information available that can be used. Slide 2 Temporal Setting From the development of theater in Rome until 55 BC there were no permanent theaters built. Several attempts made. Senatorial opposition toward permanent theater largely credited. Notes: There were also senators trying to build theaters. Mid 4 th century origin mostly just to mark the beginning; somehow, surely, the origin is more complex than Livy s description; Beacham has a great deal more to say on the topic. Caesar was assassinated in the theater!

2 Slide 3 Slide 5 Why don t they have permanent theaters? Wooden theaters are perhaps unsafe. There are big sexy theaters in Greece. Officially Immoral Long tradition of opposition to foreign luxuries. Made explicit at times. Self aggrandizement This is the chance for the upper classes to increase status by giving gifts to the people. Dangerous Venue Theaters are a really good platform to reach the mob and that might be abused. Plautus gives us much. His plays were written exclusively for a temporary stage. Stage directions are key to understanding temporary theaters. the built in stage directions indicate that there were doors, angiportum (a back alley/back stage), and stage exits. Note: this much is evident in half of 1 of Plautus plays.

3 Slide 6 Pliny (NH , 35.23) Pliny describes the massive theater of Aemilius Scaurus with outlandish and exaggerated proportions and opulence. Pliny describes a very well painted scaena. Cicero gives the location of early temporary theater by the temple of Magna Mater. Vitruvius is often cited in theater discussions but makes no mention of temporary theater. Slide 7 Wall Paintings Wall paintings in Pompeii may depict stages with their elaborately painted scaenae. The architectural features and organization of some of the scenes in Pompeii bear strong resemblance to a wall painting in Rome which can reliably be called a theater scene. There are theater masks, and it resembles permanent theaters. Painted Pottery: Phylax plays were lewd plays performed on wooden stages in Magna Graecia and elsewhere in the Greek World. Some try to use this as a depiction for a wooden stage. Notes: both art sources are heavily scrutinized; how does one get verification that the artists aren t taking artistic license?

4 Slide 8 A brief search shows contemporary Roman style theaters all over the Roman World, some very close to Rome and many built previous to the first permanent theater in Rome: Pompeii, 75 BC (Sear 132) Tusculum, c. 100 BC (Sear 132) Praeneste, mid. 2 nd BC (Sear 133) Lanuvium, few remains (Sear 124) Gabii, 160 BC (Sear 123) Slide 9 Scholars agree on several attributes: Raised stages perhaps adopted from phylax play temporary stages. 3 doors based on stage directions and later theaters Scaenae from Pliny, later theaters and art. Side entrances from later theaters and stage directions. Functional roof, from Amphitruo Orchestra of some kind based on legislation. Questions: An altar is mentioned once and never again, it may not be relevant to comedy and so not focused on by some authors. Architecture onstage, definitely seems to have occurred at times, but not necessarily always. They disagree: Seating theories abound. The depth of the stage is described both as narrow and deep in turn. Validity of art as a source of information for temporary theaters is largely based on the credulity of investigator.

5 Slide 10 CONCLUSION The Roman Theater had to have some sort of transitional early stages for which we will most likely only be able to speculate about. By the time Plautus was writing his plays he wrote plays knowing that the stage would have doors and side exits and an angiportum and a roof for Mercury to throw things off of. This surety implies a stabilized set of at least some theater characteristics early in the tradition of Roman theater. The theory that Roman elite enjoyed having the opportunity of temporary theater to display their wealth is credible. This seems to be occurring with the examples of temporary theaters described by Pliny. Wealth displays if they resemble other examples in Roman culture, like games and public architecture, will vary according to how much patrons are able to invest. Given these two points it seems likely temporary theater had common stage elements but could vary significantly in scale, opulence and architectural elements like seating and the presence of a roof.

6 Slide 11 Bibliography Beare, W Roman Stage. London: Methuen & Co. LTD. Beacham, R Roman Theatre and its Audience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Bowder, D. (ed.) Who Was Who in the Roman World 753 BC AD 476. Oxford: Phaidon Press Limited. Goldberg, S. M Plautus on the Palatine, Journal of Roman Studies 88: Kleiner, F. S A History of Roman Art. Belmont CA: Thomson & Wadsworth. Marshall, C.W The Stagecraft and Performance of Roman Comedy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sear, F Roman Theatres: An Architectural Study. Oxford: Oxford University Press.