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 dialog Subject:

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

actors to feature

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

conquering Germanic peoples in 476 AD to

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 doctrine Melodramatic

: good rewarded, evil punished

Vernacular Drama

“Noah’s Ark” presented as part of a

cycle

of plays • Vernacular drama (spoken in

common language

outside the church ) took place in town squares • Scenery was church then place

mansions wagons

wheeled platforms that in could move from place to • Costumes were

church clothing

with accessories