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The plays translated in this volume represent everything one would not expect either from the third-century B.C. playwright Plautus or from Roman comedy in general.
A common theme in all three comedies is the triumph of women over men. In Truculentus, prostitutes snare all of the men in the play; in Bacchides, the victims include fathers and sons. In Casina, Plautus creates a fantasy that turns traditional social and sexual roles upside down. The plays' mordant, cynical treatment of the normal plots and casts of Roman comedy, their dark humor rooted in homosexuality, oedipal encounters, cruelty, larceny, and prostitution, and their pervasive lack of romance or sentimentality have alternately puzzled and offended the few audiences that have seen them since the Renaissance.
Now these unusual plays have been rescued from obscurity in the best possible way—through performance. James Tatum's translations, revised from actual productions, demonstrate that these are among the most entertaining and theatrically effective of Plautus's comedies. The speakable, performable scripts, along with Tatum's introduction, notes, and critical essays summarizing his own experiences in producing them, make this a gold mine for troupes wishing to produce these classics on the contemporary stage as well as for students of classical drama.
The Johns Hopkins University Press
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Edward Servin
reviewed Plautus: The Darker Comedies. Bacchides, Casina, and Truculentus on July 09, 2017 Plautus: The Darker Comedies. Bacchides, Casina, and Truculentus
What a brilliant collection, and now that I've read Sophocles' entire oeuvre, I consider him one of my favorite playwrights
Philoctetes is one of the most brilliant portraits of pain, physical and emotional pain. And Odysseus, who appeared as the commonsensical counterpart to the sons of Atreus in Ajax (a superb portrait of heroic madness in the face of perceived insult), is here the deceptive schemer. Thinking now of Philoctetes, I am surprised by how singular The Odyssey's multifaceted and mostly sympathetic portrayal of Odysseus stands out in light of Odysseus' often negative reputation in later ancient literature.
Then the Oedipus plays are the most masterful "classic" Greek tragedies, full of gravity, beautiful language, elevated grandeur and nobility, and more. Oedipus the King is perhaps the more perfect, but so far my preference goes toward Oedipus at Colonus for the serenity that pervades that play and for the presence of a wiser and more peaceful Oedipus and for the noble presence of Theseus
And Antigone is special for its dramatization of the resistance of right against might, of the individual against the State. And it's perhaps Sophocles' bleakest play, insofar that there are three deaths at the climax - Antigone, Haemon, and Eurydice. At least the Oedipus plays establish a kind of noble stance in relation to fate, and Philoctetes ends with a hope of healing. Antigone seems the most relentless of the Sophoclean masterpieces.
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Add Plautus: The Darker Comedies. Bacchides, Casina, and Truculentus, The plays translated in this volume represent everything one would not expect either from the third-century B.C. playwright Plautus or from Roman comedy in general. A common theme in all three comedies is the triumph of women over men. In Truculentu, Plautus: The Darker Comedies. Bacchides, Casina, and Truculentus to the inventory that you are selling on WonderClubX
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Add Plautus: The Darker Comedies. Bacchides, Casina, and Truculentus, The plays translated in this volume represent everything one would not expect either from the third-century B.C. playwright Plautus or from Roman comedy in general. A common theme in all three comedies is the triumph of women over men. In Truculentu, Plautus: The Darker Comedies. Bacchides, Casina, and Truculentus to your collection on WonderClub |