During my visit to Avenches, the theater did not let me out of its spell. Although I saw the theater in Orange or sat in the theater in Augusta Raurica – something fascinated me. Immediately after my return home, I built the theater in 3D.
Research
I orientated myself almost exactly on the floor plan of the theater and on the 3D visualization on the website of Aventicum.org [click here]. The height of the theater and the decoration of the outer wall are from my imagination. However, the stone facade was partly made of yellowish stones. I have taken over this in the model, of course. On the floor plan, I copied the rows of seats, one row being exactly as high as my bent leg. Since I am about as short as an average Roman, the height should be about right.
The back of the theater does not quite correspond to the fact. The theater was built on a slope. But since this is not well realizable in the game, I built it as a freestanding theater. Freestanding theaters were possible with the Romans. The Greeks, however, did not know free-standing theaters, but always built their theaters on a slope.
If the theater were still standing on the spot today, it would look something like this:
As a player, you can also upgrade the theater in the game. Thus, you can install awnings to protect the audience from the sun or you can buy an impressive stage set.
The stage set (scaena) usually had three doors, which the actors could use. But not all theaters had a huge scaena as can still be admired, for example, in the French Orange. In the Gallo-Roman area of the Empire, which is the part of today’s northern France, Switzerland, and parts of southwestern Germany, this stage set was often missing. This is because there was usually a temple on the opposite side. Thus, as a theater spectator, one could also witness temple processions, precisely because the stage set was missing.
Greek theaters also differ somewhat in shape. Thus, Roman theaters are usually semicircles, whereas Greek theaters have more of a horseshoe shape.
I worked on the model for about 1 year. Always something added, improved, and modified.
The next step is now to add the actors and audience. I’m currently reading a little book about theater tricks. Let’s see if I can incorporate them into the game at least to some extent.
