''Flatfoot'' is a 2003 comedic play by David Williamson about the Roman playwright

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the gen ...

. It is one of Williamson's few plays not to be set in contemporary Australia and was written as a vehicle for actor

Drew Forsythe Drew Forsythe (born 23 August 1949) is an Australian actor, singer, writer, and comedian. He has appeared on film, stage, and television, as well as in satirical sketch comedy television programs. Early life Born in Sydney, New South Wales, F ...

. It is a play-within-a-play, featuring Plautus' play '' The Swaggering Soldier''.

Synopsis

''Flatfoot'' is the story of Titus Maccius Plautus (

) is an ancient Roman playwright, who must convince his producer, Crassus Dives ( John Gregg), that his new play, '' The Swaggering Soldier'', will be a success and please the Roman censor. Plautus (meaning 'flatfoot') is forced to present an improvised performance before he play is yet written, playing all the characters himself, together with his wife, Cleostrata (

Tina Bursill Tina Bursill (born 24 July 1951) is an Australian actress. She played Louise Carter on the television series '' Skyways'' (1979–1981) and Sonia Stevens on ''Prisoner'' (1983–1984). She played Meryl Knight in the Nine Network drama series ...

). Plautus' uncensored play meets resistance by defying various Roman societal conventions (with themes such as abolishing slavery, lampooning authoritative figures and allowing women to assume roles in the theatre). Williamson:

I felt strongly about Plautus. He was a highly popular playwright. But he was going through the same agonies as any playwright so I identified with him – trying to convince the producer to put his next play on, trying to get his actors in line, trying to cast it, trying to keep them in order, trying to sort out his marital problems at the same time. He was a hugely funny character and I really liked him."David Williamson", ''George Negus Tonight'' 9 September 2004
accessed 3 August 2014

Performance history

''Flatfoot'' was first performed at a rehearsed reading at the Longweekend Festival in Williamson's home town of

Noosa The Shire of Noosa is a local government area about north of Brisbane in the Sunshine Coast district of South East Queensland, Australia. The shire covers an area of . It existed as a local government entity from 1910 until 2008, when it was ...

, Queensland. It then played ten sold-out performances at the Noosa Arts Theatre, followed by a four-week run at the

Ensemble Theatre The Ensemble Theatre is an Australian theatre company and theatre, situated in the Sydney suburb of Kirribilli, New South Wales. History It is Australia's longest continuously running professional theatre group, having given its first performa ...

, in Sydney and a nine-day run in Melbourne.

Cast

as Titus Maccius Plautus playing various characters (including Pyrgopolynices, Palaestrio and Pleusicles) *

as Cleostrata playing various characters (including Philocomasium) * John Gregg as Crassus Dives

References

External links

Review of 2004 Sydney production
at ''Sydney Morning Herald'' {{David Williamson Plays by David Williamson 2003 plays