Comedy

For this week’s seminar we studied comedy and how to differs in relation to tragedy. Where as tragedy is concerned with separation, comedy revolves around the integration of society and positive change. Old Greek Comedy, exemplified by the work of comic playwright Aristophanes, used the absurd and the surreal to mock the proud and important (most notably Socrates in The Clouds), as well the institutions around him. His heroes, and their struggles, were larger than life and took often took place on a grand scale such as The Birds  or Lysistrata. His protagonists, through means either sensible or ludicrous, sought to establish new societies in the face of great opposition and would ultimately triumph, despite their often ridiculous methods.  This is a common theme in Old Comedy. Old Comedy also mirrored tragedy in certain regards, such as catharsis; ” “We notice that just as there is a catharsis of pity and fear in tragedy, so there is a catharsis of the corresponding comic emotions, which are sympathy and ridicule, in Old Comedy” (Northrop Frye – The Educated Imagination and Other Writings).

Over time however, New Greek Comedy was born. Unlike Old Comedy, New Comedy was notably more down to earth and realistic, focusing on more mundane plots relevant to the “every man”, as can be best seen in the work of Menander. Menander’s work primarily derived humour from ordinary human relationships and common character flaws. To this end he employed basic stock characters such as the Senex Iratus (bad tempered old man/father figure) Miles Gloriousus (the boasting soldier/arrogant rival) and the Dolosus Servus  (the cunning slave).

As part of our work on comedy we were asked to adapt the play Aulularia  (The Pot of Gold) by the Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus and provide a summary approximately one page long.

Aulularia

Euclio /Eugene Inverlair – old man/former mi6 agent who has a microfilm containing incredibly valuable and confidential information from his professional days.

Phaedria /Prudence Inverlair- Eugene’s pregnant daughter

Lyconides /Luke Philby – Prudence’s secret fiancée and a current mi5 agent

Strobilus/Steven Fleming – Luke’s friend and low-level mi5 employee

Megadorus /Mervyn Philby – Luke’s father,  former mi5 agent and current business mogul.

Location: Burford, Oxfordshire

Having long since retired from life as a professional spy, former MI6 agent Eugene Inverlair lives a quiet life in Burford with his longsuffering  and currently pregnant daughter Prudence. Among his many souvenirs left over from his career, Eugene jealously guards an old microfilm that contains highly confidential information that he purposely retained to guard against any attempt against his life by his former employers.  Government agents, eager to reclaim the microfilm and keep news of the situation spreading, quietly urge Mervyn Philby, a former mi5 agent, business mogul and old friend of Eugene’s, to  quietly. obtain the film. Unable to otherwise convince the paranoid Eugene part with the microfilm, Mervyn tasks his nephew Luke, a current MI5 agent to retrieve the footage by any means necessary, barring violence.

Unbeknownst to his uncle or Eugene however, Luke is the father of Prudence’s child and is understandably uneasy with the situation. Luke visits Eugene in the hopes of searching the house but is quickly found out and inadvertently confesses his relationship with Prudence. Eugene, now more paranoid than ever, forces Luke out and forbids him to return.  Prudence is infuriated when she discovers that Luke revealed their relationship to her father and cuts off contact with him. Exasperated, Luke relates the story to Steven Fleming, his friend and junior agent. With no viable solution in sight,  Luke coerces Steven into accompanying him  in order to  break-in to Eugene’s home and steal the microfilm. Steven complains but in the end reluctantly acquiesces when Luke pulls rank. When the break-in goes wrong, Luke and Steven are forced to flee as Eugene searches the house with a double-barrelled shotgun. When they return the next day, they find the area swarming with police. Despondent, Luke tells Steven he will tell his uncle that he cannot retrieve the film and hints that he will shift the blame onto Steven.

Fed-up with the entire situation, Steven concocts a plan to steal the microfilm. Posing as a police officer, he gains access to the house and secretly explains the situation to Prudence, who agrees to create a distraction so that Steven may obtain the microfilm. Steven then later visits Eugene minus his disguise and introduces himself as Luke’s intermediary. He returns the microfilm on the condition that Eugene forgives Luke and agrees to allow him to marry Prudence. Eugene agrees. Unaware of these developments, Luke then arrives having been earlier called by Steven. Much to his surprise, he finds himself welcomed by Eugene, who immediately tells him that he may propose to Prudence. Luke does so at once, thereby prompting Eugene to hand over the microfilm, realising that he no longer needs protection as Luke will be his son in law.