The
theatre of ancient Rome was a diverse and interesting art form, ranging from
festival performances of
street theatre and
acrobatics, to the staging of
Plautus's broadly appealing situation comedies, to the
high-style, verbally elaborate tragedies of
Seneca. Although Rome had a native tradition of performance, the
Hellenization of
Roman culture in the 3rd century BC had a profound and energizing effect on Roman theatre and encouraged the development of
Latin literature of the highest quality for the stage.