Fragment Completed. Plautus: The Box (Fragment) – F. Tóth Gergely: The Box (Remake).

Translated by Éva Tordai, Completed by Gergely F. Tóth, with an Introduction by György Karsai

Abstract

This unique publication presents a bold experiment: Éva Tordai’s Hungarian translation of Plautus’ Cistellaria—a fragmentarily preserved Roman comedy—is complemented by Gergely F. Tóth’s original completion, written in the spirit and tone of the surviving Latin text. The result is a hybrid work: part ancient comedy translation, part contemporary dramatic creation, where the Plautine tradition is refracted through modern concerns and idiom. György Karsai’s introduction explores the play’s classical context, the nature of the fragment, and the poetics of literary reconstruction. Rather than a mere restoration, this “remake” becomes a playful and thoughtful dialogue between ancient theatre and present-day stagecraft.