Roman theatres were complex buildings, closer in design to modern theatres than Greek ones. The seating was arranged in a semicircle around the orchestra as in the Greek theatre, but the stage and scene building were joined to the auditorium and rose to the same height, creating a sense of enclosure more like that of a modern theatre. This sense of enclosure was made more emphatic by the fact that some smaller theatres or odea were roofed and larger ones often had awnings (vela) overhead to shade the audience. The Romans were skilled at building substructures under the auditorium which meant that the seating was served by a complex of.
