Roman vs Greek theater (Blog #2)

1) The Roman and Greece forms of theater were different in many ways, one being the social status of the actors. Roman actors were of lower class, most of them being slaves, while Greek actors were mostly aristocrats. In this sense, you can pretty much assume that Roman theater was more popular for the middle-lower class people and that Greek theater was probably directed more towards the people of the upper class.

One other major difference between Roman and Greek theater is the purpose of their plays. Greek theater was first, their type of performances were religious, almost educational. They often praised the gods and the use of masks were very popular. These plays were viewed as of high quality, their morals taught the people how to act in the real world. On the other hand, Roman theater was aimed to entertain their crowds (up to 20,000 people) with brilliant performances. The different types of performances included mimes, pantomimes, and tragic dramas.

Roman Theater, built above the ground so that all the audience is able to view the stage clearly.

Greek Theater, structure almost the same as the Roman Theater except that the audience and stage are below ground level.

Roman theater could seat up to almost 20,000 people

Greek theater was made to seat only a limited amount of people, being very competitive.

2) The relationship between Emma and Lucy is an odd one. At first I believed their relationship was straight forwardly the master and her slave girl. But after further readings, I was very surprised by the use of cocaine and opium. I had no idea that a slave girl would for any circumstance, be smoking opium and cocaine in front of her master. With further reading I find that the master and her slave girl may share what seems to be a lesbian relationship. I think that Hagedorn may be trying to put fictional characters in those types of situations to lessen the anxiety humans feel with those type of uncomfortable situations.

http://twinningblog.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/greek-and-romans-theatres-exercise-vi/

http://www.enotes.com/drama/discuss/compare-contrast-greek-roman-theatres-95394

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_differences_of_Greek_theater_and_Roman_theater