PLAYS
Early Roman theatre resembles vaudeville performances through the prevalence of stock characters and music. Roman theatre developed into four distinct genres: farces (mimi), pantomimes (pantomimi), tragedies (tragoediae), and comedies (comoediae). While farces included speaking roles and pantomimes paralleled more of today’s ballets, both allowed women as actresses, featured little to no plot, were considered tasteless and vulgar, and were dispersed throughout comedies and tragedies. Of the full-length plays of comedies and tragedies, each lasting around two hours with occasional music between scenes, comedies were vastly more popular.
Titus Maccius Plautus authored many comedies and inspired Shakespeare's A Comedy Of Errors in his work, The Twin Brothers Named Menaechmus Publius Terentius Afer, or Terence, also wrote comedies, many of which became common literature to teach Latin within the church. Contrasting the humorous writing, Seneca the Younger composed many Greek-inspired tragedies. Of Seneca's plays, most featured Greek subjects, thus considered fabulae crepidatae. Tragedies written with Roman subjects are fabulae preatexta.
While these plays enthralled audiences, attendance paled in comparison to the state sponsored gladiatorial games.
Seneca the Younger lived under the Julio-Claudian Emperors.
Terence, born in Carthage, died at sea at the age of 25 after writing six plays.
THE ROLE OF THEATRE IN ANCIENT ROME
THE ROLE OF THEATRE IN ANCIENT ROME