Roman Comedy XIV: Plautus’s Curculio, or My Daughter! My Sister!

Posted byTriumvir ClioPosted inRoman Comedy, The Romans

In today’s episode, we cover the shortest of Plautus’s surviving plays.

The theatre at Epidaurus — stand on that circle in the middle for the most perfect acoustics
Discussion Prompts
  1. AP Credit: What does this play have to say about “modern” medicine (modern being the time in which the play was written)?
  2. This is the shortest play we have by Plautus. Does this make it better or worse than the others we’ve read? Why or why not?
  3. Were Palinurus and Curculio played by the same actor? Does it matter? Why or why not?
  4. If you were directing today, would you follow the ancient tradition of approximately three actors playing multiple roles? Or would you assign one actor to each role? Why?
  5. Why does it matter that Planesium is a free-born woman?

Published by Triumvir Clio

I have a BA in History and Classical Civilization from Loyola University Chicago and an MPH from Western Michigan University. I've been a geometry teacher, a religion teacher, a writing tutor. I'm a writer, a knitter, a dancer, a singer, an actor. And, yes, for fun I like to reread everything that was assigned while getting my classics degree.

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