How Comedy Was Produced
Dramatic performance in the second century occurred at public festivals.
These games were organized by aediles or praetors. They not only took
charge of the festivals, but also supplemented the senatorial funds
allocated with donations of their own. Since admission to the festivals
was free to the public, these were the only source of funds for the
games.
There were at least four annual festivals in Plautus's time:
1) The ludi Romani - in honor of Iuppiter Optimus Maximus, this
festival was given in September by the curule aediles. By 214, four days
of this festival included ludi scaenici, or dramatic
performances.
2) The ludi plebii - also in Jupiter's honor, held in November
under the plebian aediles. At least three days of this festival were for
ludi scaenici.
3) The ludi Apollinares - in July under the city praetor, with at
least two days allocated for ludi scaenici. Some historians have
explained the institution of this and other festivals at the beginning of
the second Punic war as the result of the popularity of Roman drama, and
the demand for more ludi scaenici.
4) The ludi Megalenses - in honor of the Great Mother, and first
celebrated in April of 204, it became an annual festival in 194. This
festival was given under the direction of the curule aediles. Dramatic
performances lasted more than one day, and perhaps as many as six, as was
the case by the time of Augustus.
By 200BC there were about eleven days a year for drama, and after 191,
perhaps as many as seventeen. By the Augustan age, there were
forty-three, although we cannot tell how much growth occured in the
second century.
In addition to regular festivals, there were also special games to
celebrate triumphs, dedications, and funerals, and dramatic performances
may have been given at these as well.
Another consideration in the frequency of dramatic performance in Rome is
the fact that the games were often repeated in the case of impropriety in
a festival's observance of the rites. Duckworth suggests that the real
explanation for the repetition of the games is the popularity of the
performances, citing that in the year of Miles Gloriosus, the
plebian games (where it was performed) were given eight times in all.
The Dominus Gregis and the Grex
The officials in charge of a festival would contract a dominus
gregis, who was the producer of the play. He would buy the play
himself, or recommend a playwright to the officials, hire the actors,
make arrangements for rehearsals, arrange with a musician for musical
accompaniment, arrange for costumes and stage properties, and was even
the chief actor in the troupe (or, the grex). Obviously, the
dominus gregis was a pivitol figure in dramatic production in
ancient Rome. The playwright, meanwhile, had no control over the play
after it was purchased, and he only received the original purchase price,
even if it was performed many times. The text remained in the possession
of the dominus gregis, and he suffered the only financial risk,
because the amount of money he got depended on the success of the
production.
Most historians believe that the dominius grex was a freedman who
owned most of the actors, who were slaves and could be punished for bad
performances. However, Livy and Valerius Maximus tell us that
professional actors were banned from military service. This indicates
that not all actors were slaves, since slaves could not serve in the
military anyway.
The number of actors in the grex is unknown; it may have depended
on the needs of individual plays.
The Stage
Sites for ludi scaenici varied at different
festivals and for different periods. In the earliest days of Roman theatre, temporary
stages were constructed of wood for each performance. Spectators probably stood
or sat on the hillside or brought stools. Later, wooden stands were provided.
There were attempts in 170 and 159BC to erect a permanent theatre, but the senate
would not allow it. They passed a decree in 154 that seats should not be used
at theatrical productions, saying that it was harmful to public morals.
We do, however, know some things about how the stages were organized.
The stage itself was long and narrow stage, and usually represented a
city street. The normal background consisted of painted boards to
represent one, two or three houses, with doors as an entrance to stage
from the houses. The doors were probably recessed to provide small
vestibules, which was a convenient place for eavesdropping. Actors
entered through the wings. The length of the stage, perhaps as much as
60 yards, makes soliloquies and asides, eavesdropping, and failure to see
other characters on stage, more natural than on the modern stage.
On stage in front of one of the houses stood an altar, usually to Apollo.
This altar figures prominently in two of Plautus's plays.
Costumes
Actors wore a sort of undergarment, the tunica, and a mantle, or 
pallium, over that, which was indicative of character.
The actor would also have a thin sandal or slipper (soccos), which was
a distinctive feature of comedy. Tragedy had its own kind of shoe.
The different stock characters had distinctive
stock costumes. The senex is described as white-haired, often with a staff,
and sometimes a purse. He wore white clothing. The young man wore a pallium
of rich material and bright colors, or a chamlys, which was a shorter cloak
used by soldiers. Slaves may have worn red wigs, and large artificial feet. Often
they had a short tunic with tight sleeves. They are portrayed with a scarf hanging
from their left shoulder. Duckworth says it was "believed to be a conventionalized
form of the pallium collectum, the pallium thrown over the shoulder
to enable slaves to bustle about more energetically" (p.91). Female characters
wore a long flowing garment, and courtesans' mantle is said to be saffron-colored
because of her greed. Parasites wore a long-sleeved undergarment and a chamlys-like
mantle.
Masks
The traditional view held by historians until at least the 1940's was
that
masks were not used on the Roman stage until after the period of Plautus
and Terrence. However, the evidence supporting this view is
contradictory and
confusing. W. Beare suggests in The Roman Stage (Methuen & Co.,
London:
1950) that Plautus's "frequent descriptions of the appearance of
characters--including their faces--are...likely to have been descriptions
of masks than of the actual features of members of the company" (p.194).
Furthermore, both Plautus and Terrence use the word persona (Greek
for mask) and Plautus also uses imago--also a word for mask. This
suggests that the word for mask had long been in use on the stage. Also,
Plautine comedies that featured characters with similar appearances such
as Amphitruo and Menaechmi could have been produced more
easily with masks than with make-up. Therefore it seems probable, given
the history and nature of Roman comedy, that masks were used even in this
early period.
to previous page to next page