Written 2,200 years ago, Plautus’s play Mostellaria (Haunted House) has a premise that suits a movie or sitcom episode today: while his father is away, a rich young man parties nonstop, falls for a prostitute, gets into debt, and tries to dodge getting caught. The Troubadour Theater Company is performing a 21st-century version of Mostellaria, renamed Haunted House Party, at the Getty Villa through October 3. The play evokes the spirit and setting of a Roman comedy around 200 B.C.
Working with the Troubies was, in a word, hysterical. They can’t stop being funny. Wanting to understand the ancient play, they did multiple readings, using different translations, asking questions about the original Latin, and cracking each other up. As time went on, they became a Plautine troupe in their minds. With their stage set, they reproduced the feel of a crowded, open-air performance space in ancient Rome and introduced a pre-show with the distractions of a Roman festival. Even the standard interruptions of our modern outdoor plays—feral parrots, helicopters, and barking dogs—were seamlessly incorporated. And if you come late and interrupt, be prepared to become part of the show!
To add historical context to the experience of watching Haunted House Party, here are some of our favorite facts about the original play, the playwright, and the context of ancient Roman theater, plus insights from seeing Haunted House Party come alive on stage.
Working with the Troubies was, in a word, hysterical. They can’t stop being funny. Wanting to understand the ancient play, they did multiple readings, using different translations, asking questions about the original Latin, and cracking each other up. As time went on, they became a Plautine troupe in their minds. With their stage set, they reproduced the feel of a crowded, open-air performance space in ancient Rome and introduced a pre-show with the distractions of a Roman festival. Even the standard interruptions of our modern outdoor plays—feral parrots, helicopters, and barking dogs—were seamlessly incorporated. And if you come late and interrupt, be prepared to become part of the show!
To add historical context to the experience of watching Haunted House Party, here are some of our favorite facts about the original play, the playwright, and the context of ancient Roman theater, plus insights from seeing Haunted House Party come alive on stage.