Four Roman Comedies: The Haunted House;Casina; or A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Wedding;Eunuch;Brothers

Description

The comedies of Platus and Terence are all that survive to us of a great age of Roman comedy theatre. Collected here are four important plays that offer an insight into everyday life in ancient Rome, whilst maintaining a pivotal influence over modern day theatre. In "The Haunted House" the intrigues of a clever slave are played out in a virtuoso comic role; Platus's "Casina" is a fast-moving romp through the sexual mores of the Roman upper classes; Terence's more sophisticated "The Eunuch", and "Brothers" are perhaps closer in sentiments to the attitudes of modern comedy and reflect situations with universal appeal.

Plautus, Titus Maccius (254-184 BC) was a Roman playwright, whose comedies were the most popular dramatic works of their day. He was originally an actor or clown. Twenty-one of his 130 plays survive, revealing his theatrical craftsmanship and total mastery of farce. Although his works were palliata, adaptations of Greek new comedy originals now lost, he shifted the scene to Rome and based much of the humour on Roman manners and customs. His comedy, which was broader than that of Terence, still works today. Stock characters of Plautus's plays include the bragging soldier, the miser, the old man in love, the parasite, identical twins, the wily slave, and the courtesan. Later European dramatists influenced by Plautus include Shakespeare, Jonson, Dryden, and Moliere. His comedy was often based on disguises and mistaken identities; Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors (1592) was based on Plautus's Menaechmi, about the confusions caused by a pair of long-separated identical twins. Several of his plays were combined for Stephen Sondheim's 1962 Broadway musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (although only one line from Plautus was retained: "I am a parade"). Plautus was eventually forced to work in a grain mill after losing most of his theatrical earnings in unsuccessful business ventures. J. Michael Walton has published and edited seven books on classical theatre history and has nine translations of Euripides plays in print, many on the Methuen Drama list. He is Emeritus Professor of Drama at the University of Hull where he taught from 1965 to 2002. While there he directed numerous plays and taught courses in Classical Theatre, Masks and Puppets, Russian Theatre, American Theatre, Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Theatre, Directing and Acting. Terence (Publius Terentius Afer; c. 190-159 BC) was a Roman playwright. He is believed to have been a Carthaginian slave educated and freed by his Roman master. Six of his plays, all based on works of the Greek new comedy, have survived: Andria (166 BC), Hecyra (165 BC), Heauton Timoroumenos (163 BC), Eunuchus (161 BC), Phormio (161 BC), and Adelphi (160 BC). They show Terence's comedy to be more original and subtle with thoughtful characterization and a graceful style. His plotting and characterization influenced many Renaissance playwrights, amongst them Moliere and Shakespeare. In his own day Terence was always overshadowed by Plautus, who produced more topical and less refined comedies. Julius Caesar criticized Terence's plays for lacking the true comic spirit. The playwright's later prologues sharply answer these attacks and also complain of the fickleness of the public, which was developing a preference for circuses and gladiatorial combats.