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ricardienne) wrote2008-02-28 09:52 pm
ricardienne) wrote2008-02-28 09:52 pm
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Havard's "Regulus" in stream-of-consciousness commentary
I have an acoustics exam tomorrow, but I really don't want to study, which is stupid, but instead, I'm reading Regulus: A Tragedy. I think it is quite possibly the lamest play I have read, certainly in a while. Part of the problem, I think, is that the Regulus story is basically a martyrdom story: exceedingly virtuous person does an exceedingly virtuous and upright thing even though it will kill him. The interest, I would think, should be internal. I'm imagining a successful play as something like Murder in the Cathedral, possibly centering around interaction with his wife.
Instead, we get all of these random and Carthaginian secret agents, whose only motive for wanting to Betray Their Country seems to be generally evilness and (also general) hatred of Regulus. They seem to be the main characters, actually, in terms of stage time and number of lines. The chief secret agent is also in love with Regulus' daughter, who is in love a worthy young man who had left Rome voluntarily to follow Regulus into captivity. (How this would work, since Regulus was, you know, captured in battle, and presumably, traveling out to North Africa for the purposes of surrendering to the enemy would be rather frowned on by prospective father-in-law.) There are lots of stupid speeches: Regulus and Decius (the Worthy Young Man) expound a lot about Roman Virtue, and the villains make wimpily angsty remarks about how much they hate Regulus. I am also disappointed that Regulus, on first meeting, got all lovey-dovey with his wife, instead of making some dramatic gesture of self-exclusion. And besides this (and some totally anachronistic ripping-off of Aeneid 6) Which is why, of course, I've been reading it straight through.
Instead, we get all of these random and Carthaginian secret agents, whose only motive for wanting to Betray Their Country seems to be generally evilness and (also general) hatred of Regulus. They seem to be the main characters, actually, in terms of stage time and number of lines. The chief secret agent is also in love with Regulus' daughter, who is in love a worthy young man who had left Rome voluntarily to follow Regulus into captivity. (How this would work, since Regulus was, you know, captured in battle, and presumably, traveling out to North Africa for the purposes of surrendering to the enemy would be rather frowned on by prospective father-in-law.) There are lots of stupid speeches: Regulus and Decius (the Worthy Young Man) expound a lot about Roman Virtue, and the villains make wimpily angsty remarks about how much they hate Regulus. I am also disappointed that Regulus, on first meeting, got all lovey-dovey with his wife, instead of making some dramatic gesture of self-exclusion. And besides this (and some totally anachronistic ripping-off of Aeneid 6) Which is why, of course, I've been reading it straight through.