This play, along with another of Plautus' works "Captivii" were combined by Stephen Sondheim to give us the musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"

This is one of the most important contributions in Plautine studies since Erich Segal's "Roman Laughter". A close reading of six "plays about play-making" (Epidicus, Persa, Asinaria, Casina, Bacchides, Pseudolus), the book closes down on the cardinal Plautine figure of the servus callidus as the conductor and master-puppeteer of the playworld. This is a book with a thesis: that Plautine theatre is non-mimetic, non-illusory, non-realistic; that, inasmuch as it imitates not life but previous text, it is metatheatrical and intertextual at the outmost. This is not exactly a polemical position- the world had suspected before that this might be the Plautine stamp- but it is certainly the most eloquent demonstration of the multi-layered polyvalence of Plautus' stage. Erich Segal's earlier wish, that Plautus would start being treated not as book for reading but as script for performance, is gloriously vindicated here by Slater. Disadvantages? In a sense, of course: this is a book with a special focus, not a general exposition (if one is looking for one, I would suggest Anderson's "Barbarian Play" or Moore's "The theatre of Plautus"). On the other hand, having a point to make, Slater sometimes overstates his case: for instance, the thesis that in the "Persa" the pimp Dordalus represents the "world of tragedy" (p.53) is one example of such overdrawn conclusions. But not many of those are to be found. Throughout the book, Slater offers specimens of sophisticated performance analysis (with excellent comments on music, mask, costume, props and all the other determinants). The book should perhaps be read in juxtaposition with Slater's newly published volume on Aristophanes.

This is definitely worth the purchase if you are at all a fan of European Theatre. The plays of Plautus inspired many others, including Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. Thus, any fan of the theatrical world would be missing out if they did not check out this book of the wildly irreverent, slapstick style writing of Plautus.

It's everything you could want in a comedy; big laughs, tricky plots, some more big laughs!!! A great translation, Wind brings a lyrical quality to Plautus, the comedy is pure music

This book was very enjoyable. I would recomend it to anyone looking for a light hearted book to read that is not to difficult. This book makes you think of what could happen in your everyday life. I think everyone should read this book.

I thought the music was very wonderful and original and the way the music was displayed was very good indeed. The score not only is great in itself, it was also a great accompanyment to the liberetto book witch you can also get on amazon.com. for any lovers of this play or anyone who likes broadway at all, I would definatly recomend this book.

"Forum" is one of those rare musical comedies...one of those we hardly ever stuble across. "Forum" is actually funny. And I don't just mean "haha" funny. I mean roll in the aisles and laugh until it hurts funny. The jokes just never stop coming-even during the musical numbers!

Here, one can see the springboard for three Tony award winning broadway productions: the script. This is the foundation of "Forum's" comic genius, with a combination of low-brow vaudeville and high-brow wordplay. Comedy in this show hits you at every level in every direction!

The best part is that several songs cut from the show are included in an appendix. There is also a great introduction that explains that long and rough journey "Forum" took before it became a huge hit.

a worthwhile read for anyone. but look into it if your taking a college course on roman comedy especially though. it's not a quick read but a good one. the "brothers Menaechmus" stays the truest to roman comedy forn with the five staple characters all in there. not for those wiht short attention spans.

This book makes for a good read, though it is not all that funny in today's context. I would recommend this book if you are interested in gaining a deeper understanding the minds of ancient peoples.

The variety of light-weight learning here is truly depressing. I don't know of another book that contains so much childish, smirky (and rather confused) displays of erudition. Plautus deserves better.
This is what rich kids do after buying expensive educations?

Avoid.

What I enjoyed about this book is, that it brings the interested reader, who probably is not aquainted with Plautus or Roman comedy at all, the laughs of ancient rome near, which seem still quite modern and worth a laugh. At times one could criticize it is not close enough to Plautus original play, but even if it would be only a translation, there would be differences-and not the majority can still read a Latin text in its original. So why not complete the process to make it understandable and transfer the essence of the comedy into modern times in order to make it aproachable for a broader audience? In this respect the authors have done a fine job. Definitely this is a book worth reading, entertaining as well as educating, and highly recomandable!

The translations are a bit too colloquial for my taste. In some plays for instance the names are changes, or a character is said to have a Bronx accent! The translators goal was to have lively and performable versions, and they do, so this may not bother everyone.

Each play has a simple stage diagram, and some notes on what the stage should be like (eg, the first house should be grand and imposing, but the neighboring house is small and unimpressive). The stage directions are good. Short helpful introduction.

The book physically is splendid, with nice easy to read type, and the speakers names in full, offset to make them clear.

I enjoyed the plays but would have liked a better translation. The many liberties that were taken in the translation of the text doesn't do the language justice. It made the translation more comprehensive for the modern reader, but the beauty and poetry of the writing was lost. The repetition of sounds and synonyms was profuse and often became annoying. Otherwise, the plays themselves were great fun and a delight to read. This anthology provides a good sampling of Roman comedy as well as good examples of the continuing themes in the genre. I would recommend it for someone new to the field.