Commedia dell’arte is a performance form that originated in Italy during the sixteenth century. The form is based on highly physical improvised performance around sketches or scenarios. The performers work with stock or fixed character types such as the soldier, the doctor or Arlecchino, the misbehaving servant. Associated with masked performance, originally commedia dell’arte was performed by travelling troupes of performers who might perform in village squares or marketplaces or in the palaces of wealthy Italian families who acted as patrons. Commedia dell’arte was appropriated and adapted by many other European performers and theatres, and whilst still performed in its classic form today, it can also be seen to have influenced and to have been adapted by contemporary literary as well as physical theatre.

Image: Photograph © Marcella Fava, 2011