Theatre - Romans And Greeks

No matter what civilization is being examined, Greek and Roman theatre style can be seen in all of them. The two ancient theatres even had influence on each other with their similarities in their conventions, stages, and overall meaning of their plays. Although, they did not see eye to eye on every aspect, most of the cultures characteristics resembled each other.

When looked at, it would seem that the conventions and overall style of a Greek

and Roman play were generally the same. The Romans and Greeks both had an understanding in their society that the use of masked would be used to add to the belief that there were more characters. Not to mention that both civilizations did not take advantage of the women in their societies in plays; the idea of men wearing mask would perform the parts of women. Another stimulatory between the two empires would be how their choruses were set up. Now, a generic Greek chorus had a series of people that would sing in harmony to parts of the plays. Up to the point when Sophocles imported his innovations in drama, the chorus consisted from 12 members. Sophocles added three more (Ancient Greek Theatre). The one thing that they lacked was conventional instruments. The Roman theatre consisted of generally more members and also lacked the instrumental aspect for their plays.

But what is a play if there were no stages. The Greek stage in ancient times resembled many outside theatres of present-day America. The Geeks were the first to use special effects in their plays. The Dues ex Machina was a crane-style machine that was used to raise and lower actors or objects in the air. The stage appeared to be sunken in the ground with many stone rows of seating, stadium style, reaching for the sky. The theatres would easily support an audience of many hundred people. Romans, on the other hand, did not have the scale of their theatres like the Greeks did. Though they were sill outside and relayed