Greek And Roman Theater Essay Research Paper

Greek And Roman Theater Essay, Research Paper

Greek and Roman Theater

The Greeks in Athens built the world.s first theater about 550 BC The world.s first theater production was performed by the Greeks. The Greeks were the first people to create theater performances. The Romans borrowed Greek ideas to create their own productions. There are many differences between the early Greek plays and the early Roman plays, there are also many similarities.

The early plays by Greeks were tragedies consisted of acted episodes performed by one actor who also conversed with the leader of the chorus. During this action, chorus members would react in pattern movements and gestures to what was happening. Early Greek tragedies became very elaborate and dramatic. These performances developed into festivals. These festivals covered several days of the end of March, and were open to all Greeks. The state financed the theater building and also provided its maintenance, paid fees to the actors and also provided prizes for the dramatic contests. The help of Greek poetry created these plays. The Greeks would perform dances before they started to form Theater productions. These dancing and singing festivals developed into acting. This is where Greeks got their idea to have these performances.

After Greek civilization declined in the later part of the Hellenistic Age, the Romans carried on many of the theatrical traditions the Greeks had created. The Romans used Latin Language in their productions. The Romans had no theatrical traditions of their own. This was mainly because they were not particularly inventive, especially regarding artistic and literary themes and ideas. The Romans of that time were hardheaded, materialistic, unimaginative fighters, with the admirable qualities of courage, enterprise and a sense of integrity and justice. They had no taste for the arts and none for personal refinements. The Romans natural genius lay in their remarkable ability to borrow ideas from other people and to adapt these to their won special needs. All of the Roman.s ideas were borrowed from the Greeks. First they began to borrow simple poems from the Greeks known as .Fescennine Verses.. They borrowed them from the Etruscans when they conquered them. Soon the Romans began using these verses in Latin at their own celebrations. These young Romans performed Etruscan song.s dances at the religious and social ceremonies. Their performances called histriones, improvised their own dialogues and gestured to accompany the singing and dancing. The modern term .histrionic. referring to the actors and their gestured comes from this Latin word.

Greek theatrical costumes were brightly covered. This was so the audience could see the actors since they were so far away. Another reason for bright colors was to aid character recognition. Certain characters had certain costume colors. The queen.s costumes was always purple, the traditional color of royalty, so that the spectators who had no programs could easily recognize the characters. The character who was depressed or unhappy would wear the color black. Costume coloring explained the actor.s moods. These actors identity was basically concealed because their costumes covered up their bodies except for their hands and ankles.

The actors also used props. The most common used props were chariots, statues of gods, couches, shields and swords, and biers on which dead bodies were displayed. Special props were also associated with specific characters. To differentiate among the gods and the hero.s, certain props were carried. The warriors in these plays usually wore fully armored suits. A messenger would wear a crown of olives or laurel. The king would carry a spear and wear a crown.

Greek theatrical producers left the settings mainly up to the audience.s imagination. This was because of the strict limitations on the kinds of setting a playwright was allowed to have. These plays took place outdoors in front of a house or temple. Interiors could not be shown, and there is no evidence of the Greeks using painted scenery either.

Thespis was the first actor to act in Greek Theater. Thespis created the formal theater overnight. In utilizing dialogue between himself, the first actor also created different costumes so the audience would recognize the different characters. Finally he created different masks to so he can portray different characters. Thespis helped design the role of the audience. The name Thespis comes down to us in the use of the word thespian as a synonym for actor.

The most popular plays presented in Rome in the golden age were comedies based on Greek New Comedy. Although the actors in the Roman plays spoke Latin, their plays did consist of Greek originals. Even the character names used in these Roman comedies were Greek. Roman comedy writers quickly learned that disguising as Greeks, those they wanted to insult, was the way to avoid the past. The Romans borrowed many Greek comedy conventions, including that men playing women roles. Mime remained the only theatrical genre in which Roman women were allowed to take part in. Greek stock characters mostly populated Roman stages. Bragging soldiers, parasites, stupid old men, and prostitutes were some of the most common types of actors. The clever slave was the more popular in Roman Theater then Greek Theater. Nearly every Roman family had at least one slave. No Roman