Theater and Spectacle in the Art of the Roman Empire by Katherine M. D. Dunbabin

Abstract

Reviewed by: Theater and Spectacle in the Art of the Roman Empireby Katherine M. D. Dunbabin Marvin Carlson THEATER AND SPECTACLE IN THE ART OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. By Katherine M. D. Dunbabin. Cornell Studies in Classical Philology. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2016; pp. 344. The rise of an interest in popular culture and non-literary performance during the past generation has radically changed our concept of Western theatre history from the Renaissance onward. However, views of the classic theatre of Greece and Rome remain for the most part as oriented toward dramatic texts and archeological remains as they have been since the establishment of the field of theatre studies. Most of these standard histories devote a paragraph or two to Roman mimes and pantomimes, and perhaps a passing reference to the games and the displays in the amphitheatres, but after discussing the contributions of Plautus and Terence, their consideration of the theatre of the imperial period is devoted almost entirely to the archeological remains of the scene houses, with little attention to amphitheatres and other performance structures and even less to the actual performance activities taking place in these spaces. My copy of the ninth edition (2003) of Brockett and Hildy's classic theatre history has a chapter on "Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Theatre," which is thirty-five pages in length. Almost all of these are devoted to the traditional theatre and its performance spaces, costumes, and masks. Mime and pantomime together are accorded only four paragraphs, less than a page, while "other entertainments," including games and gladiatorial shows of all types, are covered in only two pages. Katherine Dunbabin's groundbreaking Theater and Spectacle in the Art of the Roman Empirefinally provides a major opening into this largely unexplored area of Western theatre history, starting with the Greek bases of Roman performance and continuing through a detailed, comprehensive, and illuminating discussion of each of the major types of performance activity during the Roman Empire. The traditional literary theatre is not neglected; indeed, a more complete and up-to-date survey of that tradition is provided than is available in most sources elsewhere. However, the chapter devoted to this is only one out of eight, and equal space is devoted to each of the other generally neglected performance traditions of the empire, including a chapter on pantomime and mythological spectacle, one on mime and popular entertainments, one on the circus races, one on the shows in the amphitheatres, and one on the games after the empire turned to Christianity. The last decade has seen a series of important books and essays on the games by European cultural and social historians. These, mostly written in French and German, have as yet made little impact on Anglo-Saxon scholarship, especially that devoted to theatre and performance, but their contributions form part of the substructure of Dunbabin's presentation. Furthermore, each of these chapters, including that on the literary theatre, draws very heavily on a wide range of visual material—mosaics, statuettes, vase paintings, friezes and bas-reliefs, decorative lamps, funerary monuments, wall paintings, and so on. Much of the engaging and impressively well-reasoned and informed text is devoted to detailed analysis of this visual material, and to building from it an insight into the actual operations of these long-neglected performance traditions that is far more graphic and detailed than anything available before. This book distinguishes itself not only through the information it provides on these various popular forms, but also through the remarkable collection of hitherto unknown or largely unavailable visual sources of all kinds on which the reconstructions of these classic forms are based. The twenty-first century has seen a surge of scholarly discussion of this subject, encouraged by a series of major new discoveries of mosaics and other visual material, primarily from North Africa, that has provided a vast new body of information about this performance. To take but a single example, one of Dunbabin's [End Page 115]most impressive: a huge mosaic, excavated between 2005 and 2008 at Noheda in central Spain and dated around 400 ad, provides virtually a visual encyclopedia of theatrical entertainments of that era. Among the images...