 Performance and literature in the Commedia dell'Arte.
Author: Henke, Robert Published: 2003 An exploration of the commedia dell'arte: the Italian professional theatre in Shakespeare's time. The actors of this theatre usually did not perform from scripted drama but improvised their performances from a shared plot and through knowledge of individual character roles. Robert Henke considers hitherto unexamined commedia texts to demonstrate how the spoken word and written literature were fruitfully combined in performance. Henke examines a number of primary sources including performance accounts, actors' contracts, letters, popular poems, memorials of deceased actors, scenarios, and printed plays. He analyses the character system in the commedia dell'arte, individual roles, and Venetian buffoni, and provides detailed case studies of early actors and actresses. |
