Roman Theater Origins: From Hellenistic Influence to Plautus and Terence
The Origin of Roman Theater and its Hellenistic Influence
The origin of theater performances and dramatic arts is linked to the Hellenistic culture of the Roman generals after the First Punic War, with the presence of Roman troops in southern Italy and Sicily, i.e., not belonging to the Hellenistic period. The first performances are attributed to Livius Andronicus, who was entrusted with the staging of a tragedy and a comedy from the Greek to celebrate the Ludi Romani at the end of the First Punic War.
Early Forms of Roman Theater
Theater was the only literary genre in the Hellenistic period of Latino culture that already enjoyed a rich lore in Rome, as the Italic character was a distinct trend of mockery. In the first preliterate manifestations, we can find the Atellan Farces, a genre of popular drama that naturally arose among the Oscans. These farces were based on small representations of everyday life, represented by non-professional actors covered with masks. Fixed characters appeared, such as the loving couple, the hunchback, the old fool, and the glutton.
Mime, performances in which men and women acted out scenes of life from a text in prose, was very successful among the common people. It aimed for realism, sometimes even practicing the sexual act before the public. When someone had to die, they were replaced by a convict sentenced to death and executed on stage.
Tragic and Comic Genres
The tragic and comic genres formed the theater and continued to follow the Greek models that had inspired them. We can distinguish the Fabula Crepidata, a tragedy where the actors used a high boot, a feature of the Greek actors. Its themes were mythological. The Fabula Praetexta was based on Roman history. In comedy, we have the Fabula Palliata, a Greek comedy called so because the actors were covered with the pallium. The Fabula Togata was a Roman comedy about characters and themes in which the actors wore a toga.
Tragedy was cultivated between 240 and 90 BC when the last tragic poet of the Republic, Accius, died. In the last period of the empire, dramatic production, particularly in the tragic genre, was relegated to intellectual circles where it was recited. From this period, we retain the tragedies written by Seneca.
The Legacy of Plautus and Terence
Comedy is best documented in the works of two great comic playwrights of the early Republic, Plautus and Terence. They imitated the Greek New Comedy, a comedy of manners with a tangled plot reflecting the lives of wealthy classes. The action involved a series of characters: the lover, the evil old man, the cunning slave, soldiers, courtesans, and young women, always ending with a happy ending. The characters have Greek names.
Plautus: A Man of the People
Plautus lived between the third and second centuries BC. His popular success is because he was a man of the people and wrote comedies for the lower classes with a colloquial Latin. He had no moral concern; he only wanted to entertain and make his audience laugh. His works are based on other Greek plays, sometimes even mixing different works, but cutting or amending the original, typically adding Italic resources. Plautus’s purpose in theater was fun, achieving a comic effect in every scene.
Terence: Refined Comedy and Moral Concern
Terence lived in the 2nd century BC. He was a slave of a senator who soon gave him his freedom. He died young, at 25 or 35 years old, on a trip to Greece because of a shipwreck. He did not achieve the same success as Plautus because he was further away from the people, with a more educated language and great moral concern. Terence aimed for more than a smile, unlike Plautus’s laughter. Some of his works include The Brothers, The Eunuch, and Phormio.