A Roman Theatre Spectacle

OVO Theatre brings you Drama, Laughter, and Spectacle in Ancient Verulamium:

On Sunday 9th August at 7.30 pm at St Albans Roman Theatre

There is something extraordinary about watching a play in a place where theatre has been performed for nearly two thousand years. The Roman Theatre of St Albans, the only fully exposed Roman theatre in Britain, is one of those rare spaces where history and performance meet. This summer, the ancient stones will once again echo with the voices of Roman playwrights as OVO Theatre presents A Roman Theatre Spectacle. This is a unique production that blends comedy, tragedy, and backstage chaos in a celebration of Rome's theatrical heritage.

The production is the creation of Professor Tim Boatswain, an anthropologist and historian, who has long been fascinated by the theatre of the ancient world. In 2023, he wrote The Essence of Greek Tragedy, performed by OVO at the same venue. That play wove together excerpts from the great Greek dramatists. But, as Boatswain himself points out, Greek plays would never actually have been staged in Verulamium. Roman theatre was a different creature, which was more raucous, more physical, more attuned to spectacle and laughter. A Roman Theatre Spectacle is his love letter to that tradition.

The play is set in the first century AD, before a performance. The audience is invited to attend a chaotic rehearsal of a Roman theatre troupe, a company of squabbling actors, each convinced of their own brilliance, and a desperate manager who is rapidly losing his grip on proceedings. The main action unfolds backstage, but the actors also present excerpts from three of Rome's greatest playwrights. It is a play-within-a-play, a glimpse into both the art and the mayhem of ancient theatre.

The characters are a gift to any actor. There is Titus, a pompous lead actor who specialises in tragedy and takes himself far too seriously. He believes he is the reincarnation of the Roman philosopher and dramatist Seneca, and treats every rehearsal as if it were a performance before the Emperor. Opposite him is Lucius, a comedic actor who specialises in farce and cannot resist ad-libbing, no matter how much the manager pleads for discipline. Julia, a clever actress, plays both male and female roles with equal skill. She is the only one who seems to understand that theatre is a collaboration, not a competition. And then there is Quintus, the harried manager, who has somehow kept this company together for fifteen years, though you might wonder how. A chorus of performers comments on the action with a mixture of mischief and wisdom, and the narrator, Boatswain himself, guides the audience through the evening.

The excerpts chosen for the production are drawn from three of Rome's most celebrated playwrights. Plautus, the master of comedy, is represented by two of his most famous works. The Braggart Soldier exposes the vanity of a boastful soldier who is convinced of his own irresistibility to women. His clever slave Palaestrio and the courtesan next door conspire to trick him into believing that a noblewoman loves him. He walks into the trap with the confidence of a man who cannot imagine failure. The Pot of Gold is another farce, this time about a miserly old man named Euclio who hides a pot of gold and drives himself mad with paranoia that it is going to be stolen. The play is a relentless comedy of greed, suspicion, and eventual redemption. Both plays are full of the physical comedy, exaggerated characters, and clever slaves that made Plautus the most popular playwright of his age.

Seneca provides the tragic counterpoint. His Medea is a dark, violent, and rhetorical drama about a woman scorned. Medea rages against Jason, who has abandoned her for another bride. She summons dark forces, invokes Hecate, and prepares a terrible revenge. The production includes Medea's opening monologue, her invocation to the gods of the underworld, and the shocking moment when she murders her own children to destroy Jason utterly. These scenes are a reminder that Roman theatre was not all laughter and slapstick. It could also be terrifying, awe-inspiring, and morally unsettling.

Terence offers a different kind of comedy, more refined and more focused on family life. The Brothers is a play about two brothers, Micio and Demea, who have very different ideas about how to raise their sons. Micio is lenient, trusting, and believes that freedom builds character. Demea is strict, authoritarian, and argues that discipline makes men.

The play explores the consequences of their approaches, the scandals that arise, and the eventual reconciliation that comes when Demea learns the value of a gentler hand. It is a comedy, but it is also a thoughtful meditation on education, family, and the nature of virtue.

The setting of the production is itself a character in the story. The St Albans Roman Theatre was built around 140 CE, and its remains are among the most important archaeological sites in Britain. It is not an amphitheatre, as it was not built for gladiatorial combats or wild beast fights. It is a theatre with a stage, and it could seat around two thousand spectators. It was part of a larger complex that included a temple to a local deity, suggesting that performance and religious ritual were closely connected in the Roman world. The theatre was used for a wide range of entertainments, from mime and pantomime to musical performances and processions. It fell out of use in the fourth century and was rediscovered in the nineteenth century. Today, it is open to visitors and is still used for live performances.

A Roman Theatre Spectacle is a celebration of that history. It is also a reminder of how much of Roman theatre has survived. The plays of Plautus, Terence, and Seneca influenced Renaissance playwrights like Shakespeare and Molière, and their influence can still be felt today. The characters like the boastful soldier, the miser, the vengeful woman, the strict father, the rebellious son, are still with us, still recognisable, still funny or terrifying or, perhaps, just deeply human.

The production is also a tribute to the work of OVO Theatre, which has been bringing bold, imaginative productions to St Albans for more than two decades. The company has run the Maltings Theatre since 2011 and the Roman Theatre Open Air Festival since 2014. Over a hundred productions have been staged, including everything from Shakespeare to contemporary drama. The company has built a reputation for accessible, high-quality theatre that engages with the community. A Roman Theatre Spectacle is very much in that tradition, a play that is both entertaining and educational, both funny and thought-provoking.

The performance invites the audience to participate. Roman audiences were not silent or passive. They cheered, booed, laughed, and hissed. The production encourages a similar engagement to make the audience's feelings known, to applaud the heroes, to groan at the villains. It is a reminder that theatre, in its original form, was a living, noisy, interactive event. It was not something to be observed from a respectful distance. It was something to be experienced.

The finale of the production brings all the threads together. The actors take their bows, and the chorus sings a final verse. The braggart soldier is humbled, the miser learns to let go, the brothers reconcile, and Medea rides to the heavens, her sins her crown. It is a moment of release, of laughter, and of reflection. The play ends with a reminder that Roman theatre lives on, not only in the history books but in the performances that continue to be staged in this ancient space.

What makes A Roman Theatre Spectacle so engaging is its combination of elements. It is funny, with slapstick and wordplay that would have delighted Roman audiences. It is dramatic, with scenes of rage, betrayal, and dark magic that are genuinely unsettling. And it is informative, offering a window into the world of Roman theatre and its enduring influence on Western drama. It is a reminder that the questions the Romans asked, about love, power, greed, family, and justice, are the same we still ask today.

For anyone interested in theatre, history, or simply a good night out, A Roman Theatre Spectacle offers something unique. It is a chance to sit where Roman spectators sat, to watch a performance in a space that was built for performance, and to experience the laughter and drama that have been part of this place for nearly two millennia. It is a reminder that theatre is one of the oldest forms of human expression, and that it still has the power to entertain, to challenge, and to move us.

So, will the show go on even after the chaotic rehearsal? The answer, of course, is yes. The actors will argue, the manager will despair, and the plays will be performed. So, when the final curtain falls, you will have experienced something that Roman audiences themselves would have recognised: a night of theatre, full of laughter, tears, and the enduring magic of the stage.