Animals and athletes were not the only entertainment in the Roman Empire. Theatrical performances in Rome dated to the fourth century B. C.E. By the end of the Republic, the Romans had built huge theaters with as many as 20,000 seats. During the games Romans were more likely to spend time at the theater than at the circus or the amphitheater.
Roman performers staged a variety of shows for their audiences.
In the plays written by Roman and Greek authors, male actors performed all the roles, often wearing masks. These plays were popular with educated Romans. The poor and working classes usually preferred pantomime and mime shows, which often dealt with mythology and might feature nudity. Both men and women acted in these shows.
In pantomime, the actors did not speak. Music played during the performance and the actors danced, similar to a ballet. Mime shows also featured dancing and music, but the actors spoke.
Like other parts of the games, a theatrical performance could feature grand spectacles. One of the devices designed by the inventor Heron (see page 104) was a small theater that rolled itself out in front of an audience. Automata inside the theater performed, then the whole theater rolled away. At performances featuring actors, producers might bring live animals on stage. One performance featured riders on horses, while another used hundreds of mules. Theatrical special effects included actors hanging above the stage on wires and popping out of trap doors in the floor. Both effects are still sometimes used in the theater today.
World History
