Roman Theatre: Origins, Genres, and Plays
Origins
Roman youth improvised and composed songs for short, scenic pieces called “saturae.” Satura is the combination of music, dance performances, and dialogue. The Fescennine verses, religious dramas, and wedding songs were improvised with burlesque characters and dialogue. The Atellan farces were short, improvised farces with a satirical and comic tone, equipped with a rudimentary plot and fixed characters. The mimes were performed during the Floralia, in honor of the goddess Flora. They were licentious imitations acted without masks, and only women could participate.
Representations and Works
Plays were celebrated in festivals and sponsored by a magistrate. The actors were male and acted with masks. Their social status was very low, and they had a bad reputation. Tragedies and comedies were poems. They had sections of spoken dialogue (diverbia) and scenes sung with instrumental accompaniment (cantica).
Subgenres
The main subgenres were tragedy and comedy. Roman theatre consisted of Latin translations of Greek plays, adapted as follows:
- Comedy: Fabula palliata (Greek subject matter), Fabula togata (Roman subject matter)
- Tragedy: Fabula cothurnata (Greek subject matter), Fabula praetexta (Roman subject matter)
Fabula Palliata
This subgenre is best represented by Titus Maccius Plautus. The world reflected in his plays is a middle-class society, corrupt, decadent, and ridiculous. The characters are conventional and grotesque caricatures with trivial features. The characters are drawn from humble and private life. Some have the sympathy of the viewer:
- The slave (sly, mocking, deceitful, rude, dishonest, scheming)
- The young man (idle, wasteful, goofy, from a good family, in love)
- The young woman (sympathetic, modest, poor, in love)
- The parasite (free man, poor, hungry, funny, flattering)
Others are viewed with antipathy:
- The soldier (bragging, with money, ridiculous)
- The slave trader (pimp, greedy, cruel, unfair, dishonest, faithless, brutal)
- The elder (stern father, grumpy, mean, preachy, too credulous and easy to deceive)
- The midwife (honest, faithful, wasteful, angry, imposed on by the husband)
- The courtesan (uneducated, talkative)
- The cook (pickpocket)
- Merchants and usurers (greedy, evil)
Scenic Resources
Waterfalls, gesticulations, beatings, verbal abuse, drinking, boasting, clowning, tricks, absurd situations, exaggerated movements, direct allusions to the public.
Linguistic Resources
Ignorance and poor public education, language designed to please the public. The characters speak as the Romans of the time did, and the tone of the conversation was adapted to the social class of each character. Typical formulas were used (greetings, farewells, supplications, etc.), as well as interjections, exclamations, oaths, curses, threats, insults, metaphors from the lexicon of trades, derivative or compound words, nicknames, proverbs, sayings, riddles, ambiguities, puns, misunderstandings, paraphrases, incongruities, parodies of tragic mythological themes, profanity, and street expressions.
Amphitruo
The characters include gods. Amphitryon is at war, and Jupiter takes his form to sleep with his virtuous wife, Alcmene. Jupiter is helped by his son Mercury, who has taken the form of Amphitryon’s slave, Sosia. Misunderstandings arise because of this transformation, leading to comic scenes in which Mercury, disguised as Sosia, encounters the real Sosia. In the end, everything becomes clear, and Amphitryon accepts the deception.
Aulularia
The old Euclio is a miser who is only concerned with hiding his treasure. His daughter, Phaedria, has been raped by the young Lyconides and is pregnant, a fact unknown to Euclio. Euclio agrees to give Phaedria’s hand in marriage to Megadorus, Lyconides’ uncle. When Euclio finds his house full of chefs preparing for the wedding, he fears for his treasure and sends everyone away to hide it elsewhere. However, a slave of Lyconides sees him and steals the pot. Euclio discovers the disappearance of the pot and is distraught. Lyconides appears to acknowledge his guilt, and a dialogue full of double meanings ensues, as the young man’s words confessing his bad behavior with Phaedria are interpreted by Euclio as a confession of the theft. The play concludes with a happy ending: Lyconides returns the treasure, Megadorus gives up Phaedria for his nephew, and Euclio consents to the wedding.
Captivi
Hegio, an Aetolian, had two sons. One was lost at a young age and sold as a slave in Elis. The other, named Tyndarus, grew up alongside Philocrates. War breaks out between Aetolia and Elis, and Hegio’s second son, Philopolemus, is taken prisoner. To secure his son’s release, Hegio ransoms a group of Elian captives, including Tyndarus and Philocrates. Hegio sends Philocrates to Elis to arrange an exchange between his son and Hegio’s son. However, Philocrates is actually a free man, as he has switched identities with Tyndarus. When Hegio discovers that the slave he holds hostage is not valuable for the exchange, he gives up hope of getting his son back. Contrary to expectations, Philocrates returns with Philopolemus, having secured his release in exchange for the devoted Tyndarus. In the end, everything is resolved happily when Hegio discovers that Tyndarus is his other son.
Miles Gloriosus
Pyrgopolynices has abducted Philocomasium, the lover of Pleusicles, from Athens and taken her to Ephesus. Pleusicles also comes to Ephesus in search of his beloved and stays in the house of Periplectomenus, Pyrgopolynices’ neighbor. The lovers have made a hole in the wall between the two houses, through which they can meet, but they are discovered by a slave. The slave is tricked into believing that he has seen Philocomasium’s twin sister. After many tricks, the young soldier is also deceived, and the two lovers flee to Athens.
Mostellaria
The young Athenian Philolaches has squandered his father’s fortune while his father has been away from Athens for several years. In the middle of a party, Philolaches’ father’s return is announced. The slave Tranio prevents the old man from entering his house (which no longer belongs to him, as it was sold by his son) on the pretext that it is haunted. The situation becomes increasingly complicated, with one lie leading to another, until the father learns the truth and forgives everyone who has lied to him.