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Explore the life of Plautus, the first writer of musical comedy, and discover how his techniques influenced the popular musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Delve into the world of Roman drama and the Greek influence on Plautus' plays.
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Plautus: first writer of musical comedy • “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” opened in 1962 with Zero Mostel • Many were surprised to learn it was a mixture of scenes from Plautine comedy • Authors of musical were updating Plautus’ techniques, just as he had done with his “sources” • Plautus fountainhead of modern comedy
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum“Everybody Ought to Have a Maid”
Life of Plautus • Titus Maccius Plautus • Born at Sarsina in Umbria, ca. 254 B.C. • Recently conquered area • Native speech probably Umbrian, NOT Latin! • Perhaps educated in Rome?
Life of Plautus cont’d • Earned living in theatrical work - “in the working of the scenes and sets.” • Invested his savings in an overseas trading venture, but lost everything. • Probably traveled himself on this venture. • Acquired knowledge of Greek language and culture?
Life of Plautus cont’d • Arrived back in Rome broke. • Went to work in a flour-mill. • While working here, he composed his first three plays, produced after 215 B.C. • Success allowed him to devote the rest of his life to dramatic composition. • Roman Citizen?
Life of Plautus cont’d • Over 130 plays were attributed to him, but Varro claims only 21 genuine: we now have 20 plus fragmentary play. • Wildly popular in his day. • Died in 184 B.C. • Epitaph: Postquam est mortem aptus Plautus, comoedia luget, scaena est deserta, dein risus, ludus, iocusque Et numeri innumeri simul omnes conlacrimarunt.
Roman Drama • Greek Influence? • Greek vs. Roman worldviews • Natural vs. Man-made order
Greek Theaters • Preference for hillside-sites • Spectacular natural vistas • Originally, no stone seating, no permanent scene building(s).
Roman Theaters • Early wooden structures - temporary. • Most often free-standing. • Very elaborate scene buildings. • Later, built of stone, sheathed with marble
Greek Influence in Plautus’ Plays • Greek “New Comedy” (Menander c. 342-293 B.C.) cf. “Old Comedy” • Purposefully non-political/escapist • Limited number of stock characters and plot-elements shuffled to produce new plays • Characters: the old man (father, grumpy/randy/drunken), the young man (son, angry, amorous, spendthrift), the young lady (prostitute/long-lost noblewoman), the slave (wily, greedy, self-interested) • Plot elements: love triangle, frustrated love, get the money, trick the father/uncle/authority figure, slave saves master, etc.
Plautus’ use of Greek New Comedy • Formerly thought that Plautus slavishly copied Greek plays. • True that in some cases (e.g. The Rope, Casina, Mercator, etc.) we know his plays to have been based on Greek archetypes. • But papyri suggest Plautus used considerable ingenuity to shape Greek plays for Roman audience.
Plautus and “New Comedy,” cont’d • Fragment of Greek archetype for Bacchides shows that Plautus felt free to cut and/or meld scenes for his Roman purposes and setting. • Added new jokes, puns, often very specific to Roman culture - cf. Greek love of comic irony • Role of stock character, “The Parasite,” is greatly expanded - fits Roman client system • Character and Plot development less important than immediate comic effect.
Plautus and “New Comedy,” cont’d • Much more use of “metatheatrical” elements - bringing in the crowd. • Dramatic illusion not maintained • (before a long-winded speech) “ O.K., but hurry, the crowd’s getting thirsty….” • In general, much more focus on clever verbal effects like alliteration, word-play, unexpected personifications, and riddling phraseology. • “…twist the neck of wrongdoing…”
Plautus’ musical comedy • Roman comedy composed in verse • Plautus uses many different meters • Songs may have made up as much as 40% of each play, some of dialogue also chanted or recited to flute • Song and dance routines perhaps Italian influence
The “Magic” of Plautus • Why was he so popular? • Secret lies in the context of ancient drama, i.e. religious festival days - official holidays spent drinking, feasting, watching athletic contests, and drama. • Holidays as “inversion” of the normal Roman world.
Roman Festivals and Comic Inversion • Licentia and Libertas ruled on festival days, as opposed to the severitas and disciplina of daily routine. • Likewise, comedy allows a temporary reversal of social norms: what is not done and said in real life is done and said on the comic stage. • “The joy of release (laughter) is in direct proportion to the severity of the restraint.”
Festivals and Comic Inversion, cont’d • The burden of mos maiorum and gravitas • Patriapotestas - family obligations • Munus - state/social obligations • Frugalitas - money obligations • Pietas - divine obligations Festivals as “Holiday for the superego”
Plautus’ Comic Inversion • So, in Plautus’ comedies, performed on festival days: • The action takes place in the Greek East (pergraecamini!) • sons hate/trick/swindle their fathers and mothers • Young aristocrats care nothing for money, only love • Slaves have little real loyalty to or fear of masters, whom they often make ridiculous. • The gods are humanized and humans approach godhead • In sum, the characters are made to act as un-Roman as possible while making jokes that would only make sense in a Roman world.
