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| re: A Few Others | |
| Posted by: keikekaze 10:48 pm EDT 04/19/20 | |
| In reply to: A Few Others - Chromolume 09:47 pm EDT 04/19/20 | |
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| Speaking of bombshells, "Belle Poitrine" (in Little Me) has a meaning all its own in French. In the same show and in the same spirit, the upper-class twit would of course be "Noble Eggleston." Most of the names in A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum are Latin puns or character-type names, some of them drawn straight from Roman comedy, like Senex (old man), Domina (battle-ax wife), and Miles Gloriosus (braggart soldier). Others seem to be inventions by Shevelove and Gelbart, but in a similar spirit, like Hysterium for an eternally-worried servant, Erroneus for a doddering and confused old man, Marcus Lycus ("Marcus the wolf") for the brothel keeper, and Gymnasia for one of his more statuesque girls. I always thought Queen Agravain in Once Upon a Mattress was most aptly named. Her name suggests both "aggravating" and "vain," but at the same time it sounds like an actual medieval name (Yvain, Ygraine, Morgaine, etc., etc.). In fact, there's a knight (male) in Arthurian legend whose name really is Agravain. Similarly, King Sextimus speaks for itself (it has to, because he doesn't), but it could also be a real medieval name. |
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| And then there's the play titled Mostellaria | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 02:05 pm EDT 04/20/20 | |
| In reply to: re: A Few Others - keikekaze 10:48 pm EDT 04/19/20 | |
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| Entirely coincidentally, there is a Plautus play titled Mostellaria, translated as The Haunted House, and part of the source of the Erronius subplot. Zero Mostel, of course, was not the authors' first choice or even second choice for Pseudolus. (In fact, they even supposedly threatened to not let it go forward with Mostel.) Senex is a character name in The Menaechmi, and another character is a courtesan named Erotium. Gymnasium is the name of a courtesan in Plautus' Cistellaria (The Casket). Mostellaria includes slaves named Grumio and Tranio, names used by Shakespeare in The Taming of the Shrew. I wonder if those names are also in Shakespeare's English source play. And Pseudolus is indeed the name of the slave who tries to procure a slave girl for his young master in the Plautus play titled Pseudolus. I'm surprised no one has mentioned Lady Wishfort in Congreve's The Way of the World, but of course Restoration comedy, and the later English plays sometimes mistakenly referred to as Restoration comedies, are full of punning character names. |
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| Posted by: Chazwaza 12:42 am EDT 04/20/20 | |
| In reply to: re: A Few Others - keikekaze 10:48 pm EDT 04/19/20 | |
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| Even Pseudolus is a pun name! | |
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| re: A Few Others | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 11:31 pm EDT 04/19/20 | |
| In reply to: re: A Few Others - keikekaze 10:48 pm EDT 04/19/20 | |
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| "I always thought Queen Agravain in Once Upon a Mattress was most aptly named. Her name suggests both "aggravating" and "vain," but at the same time it sounds like an actual medieval name (Yvain, Ygraine, Morgaine, etc., etc.)." And it also makes me think of the word "migraine" :-) |
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| re: A Few Others | |
| Posted by: keikekaze 05:58 pm EDT 04/20/20 | |
| In reply to: re: A Few Others - Michael_Portantiere 11:31 pm EDT 04/19/20 | |
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| And it also makes me think of the word "migraine" :-) Somehow I never thought of that--but you're absolutely right! |
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| re: A Few Others | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 11:01 pm EDT 04/19/20 | |
| In reply to: re: A Few Others - keikekaze 10:48 pm EDT 04/19/20 | |
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| Similarly, King Sextimus speaks for itself (it has to, because he doesn't) I love how you put that! ;-) |
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| re: A Few Others | |
| Posted by: keikekaze 06:00 pm EDT 04/20/20 | |
| In reply to: re: A Few Others - Chromolume 11:01 pm EDT 04/19/20 | |
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| Thank you. Sometimes they just hand themselves to you--on a silver platter, so to speak--while you're in the middle of writing. | |
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