Getrennte Welten. Zur Grenze zwischen Vorderszene und Hinterszene in der römischen Komödie (am Beispiel der Mostellaria)
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Thomas G. M. Blank
Abstract
This chapter reflects one aspect of the spatial order of the stage in Roman Republican theater: the distinction of the visible stage (including the façade of the stage house) from the spaces beyond that are debarred from view, but in which important parts of the plots are set. In Plautine comedy, the Hinterszene constitutes a space of limited access. Knowledge about events taking place ‘behind the scene’ is a distinctive marker of the superiority of some of the protagonists, while outsiders who fail to gain access to the secrets shut behind closed doors will tend to despair over their own cluelessness. In a striking way, the scaenae frons is set as a boundary of knowledge in the Mostellaria. In this play, the seruus callidus Tranio devotes all his machinations to preventing the senex Theopropides from gaining insight into the nature of the events taking place in his house. The scaenae frons, however, is not an impenetrable boundary, and its secrets tend to reveal themselves eventually. Its doors and the uestibula in front of them constitute spaces of contact, where insiders and outsiders meet, and outsiders may hope to catch glimpses of what is going on inside. In a famous canticum, Philolaches, the iuuenis of the play, equates the façade of his house (dissimulated as being haunted) to the façade of his own character.
Abstract
This chapter reflects one aspect of the spatial order of the stage in Roman Republican theater: the distinction of the visible stage (including the façade of the stage house) from the spaces beyond that are debarred from view, but in which important parts of the plots are set. In Plautine comedy, the Hinterszene constitutes a space of limited access. Knowledge about events taking place ‘behind the scene’ is a distinctive marker of the superiority of some of the protagonists, while outsiders who fail to gain access to the secrets shut behind closed doors will tend to despair over their own cluelessness. In a striking way, the scaenae frons is set as a boundary of knowledge in the Mostellaria. In this play, the seruus callidus Tranio devotes all his machinations to preventing the senex Theopropides from gaining insight into the nature of the events taking place in his house. The scaenae frons, however, is not an impenetrable boundary, and its secrets tend to reveal themselves eventually. Its doors and the uestibula in front of them constitute spaces of contact, where insiders and outsiders meet, and outsiders may hope to catch glimpses of what is going on inside. In a famous canticum, Philolaches, the iuuenis of the play, equates the façade of his house (dissimulated as being haunted) to the façade of his own character.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Inhalt V
- Vorwort VII
- Komödien-Bilder im italischen Hauskontext: Eine Potential-Evaluierung 1
- A Favourite Slave from Menander 25
- Dramatis personae. Zur Funktion bronzener Schauspielerstatuetten in hellenistisch-römischer Zeit 59
- Thiasos und Theater. Dionysische Wesen, Schauspieler und Theaterbilder im römischen Haus 81
- Persona und Trauer Eine Anmerkung zur Verwendung von Masken in der römischen Sepulkralkunst 117
- Getrennte Welten. Zur Grenze zwischen Vorderszene und Hinterszene in der römischen Komödie (am Beispiel der Mostellaria) 127
- Hercules Oetaeus – Eine anonym überlieferte Tragödie aus Roms Kaiserzeit 151
- Alleinherrschaft und die Ohnmacht der Sprache. Tacitus’ Dialogus de oratoribus als historiographisches Theater 177
- Schlagwortregister (Auswahl)
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Inhalt V
- Vorwort VII
- Komödien-Bilder im italischen Hauskontext: Eine Potential-Evaluierung 1
- A Favourite Slave from Menander 25
- Dramatis personae. Zur Funktion bronzener Schauspielerstatuetten in hellenistisch-römischer Zeit 59
- Thiasos und Theater. Dionysische Wesen, Schauspieler und Theaterbilder im römischen Haus 81
- Persona und Trauer Eine Anmerkung zur Verwendung von Masken in der römischen Sepulkralkunst 117
- Getrennte Welten. Zur Grenze zwischen Vorderszene und Hinterszene in der römischen Komödie (am Beispiel der Mostellaria) 127
- Hercules Oetaeus – Eine anonym überlieferte Tragödie aus Roms Kaiserzeit 151
- Alleinherrschaft und die Ohnmacht der Sprache. Tacitus’ Dialogus de oratoribus als historiographisches Theater 177
- Schlagwortregister (Auswahl)
