The excitement of the displays in the Circus Maximus and the Colosseum attracted far
larger audiences than did the theatres of Rome, even though the plays which were
presented frequently offered scenes as violent and far more lubricious than those to be
seen in the more popular places of entertainment. There were three principal theatres in
Rome at this time, none of them offering anything like the accommodation afforded by
either the Colosseum or the Circus Maximus, yet all of them enormous when compared
with the largest theatres which have succeeded them. The Theatre of Pompey had about
27,000 seats, the Theatre of Marcellus some 10,000 and the smaller Theatre of Balbus
which had been built in 13 B.C. had 8,000.5 But long gone were the days when such
theatres could be filled by dramatists like Livius Andronicus, one of the founders of
Roman drama, or Plautus and Terence who had adapted the content and style of the
Greek masters for the stages of Rome. Plays were now written not so much for public
performance as for private declamation; and the theatres presented productions more
notable for the impressiveness of their effects than for the beauty of their language, the
interest of their plots or the delineation of character. Playing to huge auditoria, actors
wore easily identifiable masks and brightly coloured costumes, often merely making
stylized gestures or dancing while a chorus spoke or loudly sang the accompanying
words. Audiences, coarsened and degraded by the spectacles in the amphitheatre,
demanded as much violence and sensationalism, rape, incest, pillage and cannibalism as
the plot could be made to support. Women appeared naked on the stage, Leda making
love to the swan, Pasiphae with the white bull of Minos; and when blows were
exchanged real blood was shed and wounds inflicted. Before the end of the first century,
convicted criminals were substituted for actors in the final scene and actually executed;
bandits died on crosses; and a convict forced to take over the part of Hercules was
wrapped in a poisoned cloak and burned on a funeral pyre.
larger audiences than did the theatres of Rome, even though the plays which were
presented frequently offered scenes as violent and far more lubricious than those to be
seen in the more popular places of entertainment. There were three principal theatres in
Rome at this time, none of them offering anything like the accommodation afforded by
either the Colosseum or the Circus Maximus, yet all of them enormous when compared
with the largest theatres which have succeeded them. The Theatre of Pompey had about
27,000 seats, the Theatre of Marcellus some 10,000 and the smaller Theatre of Balbus
which had been built in 13 B.C. had 8,000.5 But long gone were the days when such
theatres could be filled by dramatists like Livius Andronicus, one of the founders of
Roman drama, or Plautus and Terence who had adapted the content and style of the
Greek masters for the stages of Rome. Plays were now written not so much for public
performance as for private declamation; and the theatres presented productions more
notable for the impressiveness of their effects than for the beauty of their language, the
interest of their plots or the delineation of character. Playing to huge auditoria, actors
wore easily identifiable masks and brightly coloured costumes, often merely making
stylized gestures or dancing while a chorus spoke or loudly sang the accompanying
words. Audiences, coarsened and degraded by the spectacles in the amphitheatre,
demanded as much violence and sensationalism, rape, incest, pillage and cannibalism as
the plot could be made to support. Women appeared naked on the stage, Leda making
love to the swan, Pasiphae with the white bull of Minos; and when blows were
exchanged real blood was shed and wounds inflicted. Before the end of the first century,
convicted criminals were substituted for actors in the final scene and actually executed;
bandits died on crosses; and a convict forced to take over the part of Hercules was
wrapped in a poisoned cloak and burned on a funeral pyre.
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