Click here to download a slideshow from the 2009 production of Plautus’ Aulularia.
All of Plautus’ actors were men or boys, and they wore masks. The Aulularia would have been performed without intermission, as we too perform it.
Prologue: The Lar (guardian god of the household) tells the audience about Euclio, a poor, stingy man who lives alone except for an old housekeeper named Staphyla and Euclio’s daughter Phaedria, nicknamed Aula (“Pot”). Euclio has no idea that Phaedria is pregnant and about to give birth. He has just discovered a pot filled with gold and is frantic that someone may steal it from him. The Lar assures us that the pot of gold will eventually enable Phaedria to marry Lyconides, the young man who loves her and has fathered her baby.
Scenes 6-15: Strobilus leads back from the market four silly cooks. After lamenting their bad reputation as crooks (Song #2), the cooks enter Euclio’s and Megadorus’ houses. Euclio, returning to find his home filled with commotion, chases everyone out, sure that his gold has been stolen. Finding it still safe, he lets the cooks continue with their work while he carries the pot with him under his cloak.