A clear majority of these display evident connections to religious sites, in some cases where explicit cult attributions can be made. These are located entirely in the south and display a notable variation of layouts. The list of Roman buildings in Britain that might accurately be described as theatres now stands at ten. The following points will be established during the course of this investigation.
The information overall is frequently patchy, so in order to gain the fullest picture of the British theatres, appropriate reconstructive parallels from theatres in Gaul and mathematical formulae derived from studies on Gallic theatres will be applied. Small finds will only be utilised very sparingly for the purposes of dating, as there are significant discrepancies between the datasets at each site. The methodology will involve individual analysis of the archaeological data from each theatre site, looking at location, architecture and dating, proceeding in sections divided according to settlement type. It will also ascertain the overall motivation behind the construction of each theatre, the collective findings then being applied to the ongoing ‘imperialism vs acculturation’ debate concerning the nature of the Roman occupation in Britain, the specifics of which will be summarised at the outset. Secondly, this study will investigate whether these theatres display a similar relationship with religious sites to that demonstrated in continental Europe. It will create the first synthesis of current knowledge surrounding Roman theatres in Britain, taking into account recently discovered sites and suggesting the re-classification of two others currently designated as amphitheatres.
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