Roman Theater
According to “ancient historian Livy, the earliest theatrical activity at Rome took the form of dances with musical accompaniment, introduced to the city by the Etruscans in 364 B.C.” (Klar). “In 240 B.C., full-length, scripted plays were introduced to Rome by the playwright Livius Andronicus, a native of the Greek city of Tarentum in southern Italy. The earliest Latin plays to have survived intact are the comedies of Plautus (active ca. 205-184 B.C.), which were principally adaptations of Greek New Comedy. Latin tragedy also flourished during the second century B.C.” (Klar). However, the “principal occasions for dramatic spectacles in the Roman world were yearly religious festivals, or ludi, organized by elected magistrates and funded from the state treasury. Temple dedications, military triumphs, and aristocratic funerals also provided opportunities for scenic performances. Although until 55 B.C., there was no permanent theater in the city of Rome, and plays were staged in temporary, wooden structures, intended to stand for a few weeks at most” (Klar). “The first permanent theater in the city of Rome was the Theater of Pompey, dedicated in 55 B.C. by Julius Caesar’s rival, Pompey the Great. The theater, of which only the foundations are preserved, was an enormous structure, rising to approximately forty-five meters and capable of holding up to 20,000 spectator” (Klar).
Although there are now these beautifully built theaters, there is still the issue of masks. Unlike today, were actors or musicians are displayed on these giant television screens, Roman actors did not have such technology and so the masks of the actors had to be visible from a far distance. The masks covered the entire face, including the hair of the actor and had large holes for the eyes and the mouth -the mouth being large so that the actor’s voice could be projected loudly into the crowd. The masks were usually made out of linen or cork (Roman Masks). The masks also easily conveyed the expression of the character, as well as the gender -dark skin for males and white for women (Roman Masks). However, all actors were male. Even the ones portraying a female character. In Roman theater, there are a few stock characters, such as the courtesan, the cunning slave, the parasite, the stupid slave, the old man, etc. Which is why, when when my partner and I created our mask for our Archaeology class we decided to create the face of a woman, which subsequently began to look like a courtesan, then affectionately named Wanda.
Wanda was simply constructed: We paper machéd a blown up balloon, and once it dried we continued to paper maché the base but at this point creating the ridges of the eyebrows, the nose, the ears, lips and her curly locks. Once that was completed, we gave her earrings, traced out the eyes and the mouth which we subsequently cut with an exacto-knife (very nerve-wracking, in part because I like my ten fingers, but mostly because we did not want to break Wanda). Afterwards, we painted her face white, adding a little blush on the cheeks, brown on her hair, red lips, blue earrings, eyebrows and eye lashes. With a little added shine on her lip and earrings!
Although this is not the material that would have been used to create a classical and traditional Roman theater mask, it was definitely a fun project!
Klar, Laura S. . “Theater and Amphitheater in the Roman World.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. N.p.. Web. 25 Apr 2015. <http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tham/hd_tham.htm>.
Alchin, Linda. “Roman Masks.” . N.p.. Web. 25 Apr 2015. <http://www.tribunesandtriumphs.org/roman-life/roman-masks.htm>.
Giulia and the Ancients 