Commedia dell'arte and Popular European Theatre

Not all influential theatre came from courts, temples, or state festivals. A vigorous tradition of popular, professional entertainment shaped European performance for centuries, and its techniques of physical comedy, stock characters, and improvisation still energize theatre, film, and clowning today. The best-known example is the Italian commedia dell'arte.

What commedia dell'arte was

Emerging in sixteenth-century Italy, commedia dell'arte (literally "comedy of the profession") was performed by traveling troupes of professional actors, including, notably, women, at a time when many traditions excluded them. Rather than performing memorized scripts, companies worked from a scenario (or canovaccio), a bare outline of the plot pinned up backstage, and improvised the dialogue and business aro