The audience sat on half circle facing
a stage. Actors entered the stage through doors in the walls that were decorated with
statues and columns.
Actors would try to win the audience's praise with
brightly painted masks, costumes, dancing, and mime. Romans especially liked comedies
which had happy endings.The masks helped the audience identify the characters from a
distance.
If an actor was dying in the play, a condemned man
would take the place of the actor at the last moment and would actually be killed on
stage.
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