What is Dramatic Recitation?

This article examines the literary evidence for recitations of drama in first- and early second-century c.e.Rome. It begins by contextualizing the practice of recitatio, and thereafter focuses on the central question of how a solo speaker could recite a play so as to render it intelligible for his audience. Two solutions suggested by extant sources are voice and gesture; it is possible that the individuals reciting plays either altered their intonation or inserted specific movements to signify a change of character. Although both of these solutions are tentative, they indicate nonetheless that dramatic recitation involved elements of performance.