Roman Theatres.— The Roman theatre was largely founded on Greek models. It was long before a permanent theatre was erected in Rome because it was thought that such a costly display was not in harmony with the simplicity of the republic. At an early period dramatic performances took place in temporary wooden structures and amid such surroundings the comedies of Plautus and Terence were first pro duced. Toward the close of the republic vast wooden theatres were erected in Rome. Pom pey was the first to construct one of stone. His theatre, which may be taken as the Roman model, near the Campus Martins differs struc turally from the Greek model. The orchestra was a semi-circle and there was no altar. Sing-1,-- ing and dancing were transferred to the stage and the orchestra space was occupied by seats for prominent persons. The stage was enlarged. The seats were built of masonry, not excavated ' out of a hill side or planted on a natural slope. The use of the arch and of concrete by the Romans facilitated this mode of building and under Roman hands the theatre first became an architectural unit, with auditorium, stage and stage buildings, all joined in a single structure. There are extensive remains of Roman theatres; among the most celebrated are those of Rome, Orange, France, Ephesus, Miletus, Cnidus, Tauromenium and Nimes. Roman theatres were frequently much smaller than the Greek and there were frequently ar rangements to protect the audience from the sun's rays by an awning.
The Roman theatre of the empire period degenerated into sheer lasciviousness and the rise of Christianity brought a new and redoubt able foe to this kind of spectacle. The Fathers inveighed against the public spectacles and clerics were forbidden to be present. Thus gradually the new morality gained headway and the theatre ceased to be a feature of the social life of the people.
Middle Ages.— During this period the drama existed only in the form of mysteries and miracle plays and was under the management of the Church. Theatres were not required. Plays were presented generally in cathedrals or monasteries, and the most elaborate scenery used was a three-story scaffold representing heaven, earth and hell. Strolling players also gave performances in temporary booths. This period is, therefore, entirely barren as re gards theatrical architecture.
From the Renaissance to the Present—With the revival of learning in the 16th century came also a revival of the drama, and theatres began to be built. The earliest was probably a playhouse of some sort in the Hotel de Bourgogne, Paris, which was built about 1548 for the Confraternity of the Passion; but the first regular theatre was that which Bramante constructed at Rome in the Grand Court of the Vatican about 1580. Then came the Teatro Olimpico at Vicenza, designed by Palladio, and finished in 1584; while the earliest theatre built on modern lines was constructed by Aleotti at Parma in 1618. In all the early Continental
theatres, the construction was founded on Greek models, but in England a simpler idea served. Here the earliest dramatic perform ances took place in booths, tennis-courts or in the open courtyards of inns; and it was not till the end of the 16th century that the first permanent building was erected for theatrical purposes. This was "The Theatre," built by Burbage in Shoreditch in 1576, which was founded not on any classical model, but on the innyards, in which the actors had been accustomed to play. The stage was literally a stage — a platform erected against one side of the building — and on three sides of this platform the spectators stood or sat in the pit (then called the yard), while all round it ran the galleries or boxes (then called rooms) exactly like the galleries of an innyard. There was no provision for scenery. The door at the back of the stage, which communicated with the dressing-rooms, etc., and was the general entrance for the actors, was hung with curtains, and there seem to have been curtains running on rods, some distance up the stage which could be drawn and undrawn to indicate an inner apartment, but the locality in which the scene was laid was indicated only by a placard stuck up bearing such an inscription as "A garden," "This is a forest," etc. Properties, or furniture were, however, largely used to give verisimilitude to the action. These prop erties seem to have been pushed on the stage in the calmest fashion. Thus in Middleton's 'Chaste Maid in Cheapside,' one stage direc tion runs, "A bed is thrust out upon the stage, Alwit's wife in it," and a similar action is in dicated in the stage-direction, "Enter Anne in bed," in Davenport's 'New Trick to Cheat the Devil.) In the stage there were traps ap parently to a considerable extent; while behind and on a higher level was a platform which did duty for any elevated part of the supposed scene: In the Elizabethan theatre the stage was strewed with rushes, or, upon very special occasions, was matted; and on it the young "bucks" or gallants sat on stools, showing their dress and figure to the audience, and effectually destroying anything resembling dramatic illu sion. After the Restoration, under Charles II, who was familiar with the French stage, the English theatre came more into line with the Continental. The stage was gradually with drawn closer and closer to the proscenium opening, until, by 1750, the appearance of the interior of Drury Lane was not seriously dif ferent from that of to-day. Movable scenery, which was invented by Baldassare Peruzzi early in the 16th century, had long been used in masques, but it was not till 1661 that it was used to illustrate a regular in Eng land. Meanwhile theatrical architecture was developing on the Continent along classic lines.