Roman comedy

Roman comedy was a theatrical tradition of ancient Rome, especially its adaptations of Greek New Comedy. Its surviving plays center on mistaken identities, family conflicts, clever servants, and romantic plots.

Greek New Comedy: A Greek theatrical genre of the fourth and third centuries BCE, built around domestic plots and recurring character types. Roman comic playwrights adapted its plots and character conventions.
Plautine meter: The varied metrical patterns used in the comedies of Plautus, including spoken and musical passages. Its shifts in rhythm distinguish rapid dialogue from songs and heightened scenes.
Plautus: A Roman comic playwright active around the late third and early second centuries BCE, known for energetic adaptations of Greek plays. His surviving comedies are the fullest expression of Roman farce, music, and verbal play.
Menaechmi: A comedy by Plautus in which separated twin brothers are mistaken for one another. Its escalating identity confusions exemplify Roman comedy's use of mistaken recognition.
Commedia dell'arte: An Italian theatrical tradition built around masked stock characters and improvised performance. Its recurring comic types invite comparison with Roman comedy's recognizable roles.
Fabula palliata: A Roman comedy set in Greece, with characters wearing the Greek cloak called a pallium. This was the main form in which Roman playwrights adapted Greek comedy.
Cantica: Extended musical passages in Roman comedy, often involving elaborate rhythms and vocal performance. They give Plautus's plays a more varied musical texture than ordinary dialogue.
Terence: A Roman comic playwright of the mid-second century BCE, known for polished adaptations of Greek New Comedy. His plays favor intricate plotting and refined dialogue over Plautus's exuberant theatricality.
Miles Gloriosus: A Plautine comedy centered on a boastful soldier whose vanity makes him easy to deceive. The play gives its name to the enduring comic type of the braggart soldier.
The Comedy of Errors: A Shakespearean comedy driven by confusion between two pairs of identical twins. Its twin-based misunderstandings draw on the plot tradition represented by Plautus's Menaechmi.

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