Its prologue is the shortest of any of its author's known plays, but there is uncertainty as to whether the author actually composed it or whether it was added on later.
Its prologue is the shortest of any of its author's known plays, but there is uncertainty as to whether the author actually composed it or whether it was added on later. This play is an example of ‘Palliata comoedia', a genre devised by Livius Andronicus, and like many of this author's plays contains an explicit stock character which is characteristic of many of his other, less- complete plays. In this play, Calidorus, the young son of an Athenian nobleman, laments to the titular character that his love-interest Phoenicium has been sold as a slave to the Macedonian general Polymachaeroplagides by the pimp Ballio. Hilarity ensues as the titular character attempts to get the girl for Calidorus, win a bet from Simo, and outwit half the town while making preparations for his own birthday party. This play was one of the major influences in the production of Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. FTP, what is this comedy by Roman playwright Plautus, which, like Miles Gloriosus and Mostellaria features a stock character in the title character, who is described as a ‘clever slave', played by Zero Mostel in the movie adaptation of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum?
Its prologue is the shortest of any of its author's known plays, but there is uncertainty as to whether the author actually composed it or whether it was added on later.
{Pseudolus}