Roman and Medieval Drama Vocabulary Words - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Roman and Medieval Drama Vocabulary Words

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Roman and Medieval Drama Vocabulary Words Plautus Terence Seneca Closet play Liturgical drama Vernacular drama Mystery plays Miracle Plays Morality Plays – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Roman and Medieval Drama Vocabulary Words


1
Roman and Medieval Drama Vocabulary Words
  • Plautus
  • Terence
  • Seneca
  • Closet play
  • Liturgical drama
  • Vernacular drama
  • Mystery plays
  • Miracle Plays
  • Morality Plays
  • Mansion
  • Pageant Wagon
  • Cycle of plays

2
Evolution of Theatre - Roman
  • Time period roughly 200 BC to 476 AD
  • Romans conquered and assimilated cultures of
    surrounding areas
  • Roman Theatre conventions were heavily based on
    Greek theatre conventions

3
Roman Plays - Comedy
  • Comedy more popular than tragedy
  • Comic playwrights - Plautus, Terence
  • Characteristics of Roman Comedy
  • Chorus was abandoned
  • No act or scene divisions
  • Songs or music with the dialog
  • Subject Everyday domestic
  • affairs, often bawdy
  • Action placed in the street

4
Roman Plays - Tragedy
  • Tragic Playwright - Seneca
  • Closet plays written to be read not performed
  • Characteristics of Roman tragedy
  • Plot Structure - five episodes / acts
  • divided by choral odes
  • Elaborate speeches
  • Violence and horror seen onstage -
  • Characters dominated by a single
  • passion (such as revenge)
  • drives them to doom

5
Roman Theatre Conventions
  • Plays took place outdoors - about 2 hours long
  • Actors were men who wore Roman dress, with wigs
    and makeup - eventually no mask
  • Chorus not important - eventually abandoned
  • Scenery was a street with 3 or 4 houses behind
  • A place of entertainment not of worship

6
Roman Theatres
  • First permanent theatre built of stone in 55 BC
  • Seated 17,000 people - on level ground, not in
    hillside like Greeks
  • Had half-circle shape orchestra - chorus less
    important
  • Larger proskenon to feature actors

7
Other Roman Entertainments
  • Romans loved sports - chariot racing
  • Romans loved animal fights - bear-baiting, lions
    eating Christians
  • Romans loved combat - gladiators

8
The Dark Ages
  • Rome Fell in 476 AD to conquering Germanic
    peoples
  • Roman Catholic church dominated religion,
    education and often politics
  • Church was a vital part of civic, economic and
    religious life
  • Common people were kept ignorant and illiterate
    to have power over them

9
The Dark Ages
  • Theatre activities were outlawed due to violence
    and sins of Roman entertainment
  • Little is known about the theatre between
    600-1000 A.D
  • Only drama in dark ages was traveling troupes
    based on Greek and Roman performing art mime,
    minstrels and jugglers.

10
Medieval Drama
  • Reborn as liturgical drama to act out stories
    so they could be understood by all
  • Text was written in Latin (as was mass)
  • Subject was stories from the Bible
  • Performers were priests or church members
  • Purpose to teach Catholic doctrine

11
Medieval Plays
  • Mystery/cycle plays based on bible
  • Miracle plays based on lives of saints
  • Morality plays taught a lesson
  • Characteristics in common
  • Aimed to teach or reinforce Church doctrine
  • Melodramatic good rewarded, evil punished

12
Vernacular Drama
  • Vernacular drama (spoken in common language) took
    place in town squares outside the church
  • Scenery was mansions in church then wagons -
    wheeled platforms that could move from place to
    place
  • Costumes were church clothing with accessories

Noahs Ark presented as part of a cycle of plays
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