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Article: Commedia Dell'arte
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
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COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE
COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE.
Commedia dell'arte is a term applied to both the early Italian commercial theater in general and to a format institutionalized by sixteenth-century professional actors' improvisations on a three-act scenario. The scenarios were constructed from a repertoire of plot types and movable parts (theatergrams) drawn primarily from novellas and scripted "erudite" comedies, set in contemporary city squares and representing love stories complicated by mistakes, deceits, parental opposition, and family separations.
In addition to singing and dancing, the players could counterfeit regional dialects and double in several roles while specializing in one of ...