Adapting the Mostellaria is a decision that has led to me repeatedly questioning my sanity and worrying incessantly about vocabulary and difficulty. Yet, that decision remains the right one (I think!). When I decide what I want to write next, those decisions are a combination of what appeals to me as well as where holes might be in the novellas currently available. When I was reflecting on what was available, I realized that we have a dearth of theatrical content. So, I decided it was time for me to adapt a play. I thought that it may be useful for teachers and other writers to understand my approach in adapting this play while trying to maintain its structure and incorporate the characteristics of a Roman comedy.
Researching the Adaptation
When I knew that I wanted to adapt one of Plautus’ plays, I had to decide which one might be the best to tackle. I started by skimming information about the different Plautus plays to find one with the least objectionable content and the most linear plot. Twins, like in the Menaechmi, are tough. There’s also a lot of brothels… and I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to go there. Linear plots can help readers follow the storyline more successfully. Even in English, I had a couple of students lose the thread of the complicated plot for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. (And no, I didn’t show that brothel dance scene).
After reviewing some of the plots, I ended up deciding on the Mostellaria. It’s linear, and I thought that students would really relate to the central plot of a kid misbehaving while a parent was away. I read the play in its entirety first in English and skimmed the Latin for phrases and idioms. I am now in the slower process of reading it in its entirety in Latin. As I read, I took copious notes on what happened in each scene and which characters were in them. At the end of each scene, I tried to sum up the core events in a sentence that would guide how I wrote that scene myself. I mapped out the nutshells of each scene by act to help me visually see the framework for the original play.
Developing my Adaptation of the Mostellaria
These summaries of core events are really important to help me write a scene for lower levels that still addresses the heart of that scene. For example, in Act 1 Scene 2, there’s this long, difficult monologue about how people are like houses. The core of this scene is that the son is like a house that’s been neglected and fallen into disrepute with the absence of his father. But it’s a long monologue, which are difficult anyway. Further, the whole scene is an elaborate, abstract metaphor with unusual and domain-specific vocabulary. The core of this scene was that people are like rotten houses, and the son is now a rotten house. So, I kept that core theme… but changed just about everything else. Instead, I have the son pretending to have a conversation with his dad and doing different voices. The dad seemed more likely to go on a philosophical you’re a rotten house spiel, so I gave those lines to Bucco’s pretend dad’s response. Kids don’t need a discussion of smoothed over stucco and beams and timbers and rotten roof tiles. It’s just too hard, but I still wanted to have a faithful nod in Plautus’ direction.
In reflecting on difficulty, I also made the decision to change the Greek names to Roman ones. Although Roman comedy relies so much on Greek comedy, I had a hard time imagining kiddos feeling comfortable saying Callidamates or Theopropides. Or Philolaches for that matter. Further, Philolaches’ girlfriend’s name is Philematium, and there’s no way they will remember who is who. Readability research suggests generally that using such similar character names can become a burden when reading. So, I spent time looking up names that might fit their different stock characters. Theopropides is now Priscus, and the son Philolaches is Bucco. So, that’s an example of a difficulty that I took some pretty big liberties with. I know kids eventually feel comfortable saying Agamemnon, but I’d rather it be less a burden when reading and speaking. Further, most of the students who may read this play are not taking Greek. They’re taking Latin. Adapting the Mostellaria is about making a story more accessible and comprehensible in Latin… All the same, it was a hard decision to back away from the original characters’ names.
Still, I did reflect on the traits of comedy and the way Greek comedy shaped Roman comedy when I first began adapting the Mostellaria. I considered puns, slapstick, terms of abuse, terms of endearments, and oaths. In particular, I wrote out terms of abuse/endearments and oaths that occurred in the original play and decided on a handful of them to get some of the comedic color in. So, I am using frutex and mastigia, mel and ocellus, di te ament, ecastor, hercle, and pol.
I’ve also tried to make some puns about the character’s names I’ve chosen. For example, I renamed Grumio in the opening scene because, well, he’s a pretty iconic Cambridge character. His name became Caepio, which means onion seller. So there are new jokes in the first scene about him based on his name. He’s a bad cook because he’s always cooking onions or smells like onions or lives with onions in the countryside. Instead of the physical beating in the original, they’re throwing onions at each other. So, I try to bring in some characteristics of Roman comedy where I can at a level that’s more accessible to students. Many of Plautus’ puns are too advanced for students (and that I frequently don’t get), so trying to bring puns down to this level, so far, looks like that.
Beyond these types of approaches to adapting the Mostellaria, I’m also adding more stage directions than exist in either the Latin or typical English translations of it. Although this does introduce vocabulary like sinistrorsum and dextrorsum, it also allows for some repetition with vocab and for a more modern play-feel to it. It also, frankly, can help with some comprehension of what is happening if students are reading—rather than acting—the play.
Wrapping up my Draft of the Mostellaria
As I approach finishing a complete draft of the play, I remain incredibly worried about the vocabulary load. After all, after all the oaths, terms of abuse, endearments, and exclamations, I still need enough words to tell the story adequately and faithfully enough to the core of Plautus’ Mostellaria. I imagine that editing this draft will be a painful one. So, I’m trying really hard, worrying incessantly about difficulty and vocab, and questioning my sanity every step of the way. I continue, though, to make those steps, and I remain hopeful that adapting the Mostellaria will fit a need within our community of Latin teachers for Roman theater.
When I have the vocabulary list, detailed descriptions, and first scene of the novella ready, you’ll be able to see what this approach resulted in. Until then, you could check out Bene Narras on YouTube for other tips on writing. I’m also always curious what content would you like to see more of for your students! Is there a play or story that you in particular want told? Feel free to let me know!
