PERFORMANCE AND LITERATURE IN THE COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE by Robert Henke ( 9780521643245 )

Item Details

Title:

PERFORMANCE AND LITERATURE IN THE COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE

By:

Format:

Hardback

List price:	£90.00
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ISBN 10:

0521643244

ISBN 13:

9780521643245

Publisher:

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Pub. date:

1 December, 2002

Pages:

278

Description:

This 2002 book explores the commedia dell'arte: the Italian professional theatre in Shakespeare's time.

Synopsis:

This 2002 book explores 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 thorough knowledge of individual character roles. Robert Henke closely considers commedia dell'arte 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, among other documents. Henke analyzes the character system in the commedia dell'arte, individual roles, Venetian buffoni, and provides detailed case studies of early actors and actresses. While previous studies have concentrated on either the oral or the literary aspects of commedia dell'arte, this was the first book to consider how these two elements might have worked together to create this rich and fascinating theatre.

Illustrations:

21 b/w illus.

Publication:

Imprint:

Cambridge University Press

Returns:

Returnable

Some other items by this author:

EUROPEAN THEATRE PERFORMANCE PRACTICE, 1580-1750