A play is written and then rehearsed, and the troupe has a contract from the magistrates to perform at a festival. These events probably occur in this order, but they need not. At an appointed time, the troupe makes its way to the recently constructed stage building, and gets ready to perform. There may have been some time between one form of entertainment and the next, and this will depend to a large extent on the purchases made by the magistrates. The praeco announces the play, blows a trumpet, and the crowd assembles. Ideally many will have stayed on from the previous performance: perhaps as the festival day wears on, slots in the venue programme become increasingly desirable. Then the play begins. After some time, it comes to an end, and the troupe's performance for the day is finished. The audience, which ideally has been loud and enthusiastic throughout, responds heartily to the appeal for applause that concludes a Roman comedy.

A brief summary such as this, drawing primarily on the information gathered in Chapter 1, depends to a large extent on reasoned guesses, and continues to leave many questions unanswered. All pre-show activity was done to support what the audience saw onstage. Performance dynamics are not always obvious, and an examination of them further illuminates what the actors are actually doing onstage. Particularly since Roman comedy was written without stage directions, the ability to perceive stage action while reading a play is a vital skill for the modern reader.