The Romans loved to have plays at the theaters. Lots of people gathered to watch these plays. There plays were nothing like ours today as the men wore brown masks to show how their character felt throughout the play and the women wore white masks to show how they felt throughout.

As females were not allowed to act either a man or a boy wore the white masks instead. The theaters were built outside in an open area so that the lights of the sun could be used. To gain entrance the fee was free for most common people but some had to pay a little amount of money. The rich people paid the actors so there was no need for them to pay to watch.

Most of the plays were copied from the Greeks. Even the slaves were allowed to watch but only at the back and had to stand. The actual structure was made of stone. Many of these plays could have been as bloodthirsty as the fights in the amphitheaters because sometimes when a character died in the script they would actually die in that way, in the play. This caused many to watch as the fight scenes would have been real fights.

This is one of the large theaters: