ABSTRACT
A growing understanding of the profound extent to which the marketing of medicine informed, and economically underpinned, the rise of professional theatre in early modern Italy, emphasizes the importance of cross-disciplinary approaches. As already touched on in Chapter 9, early modern professional performing troupes had to be capable of performing outdoors as well as indoors, and of accommodating widely varying municipal regulations. For outdoor performances, for which they could not charge an entrance fee, the sale of medical goods and services offered an effective alternative economic strategy. Especially in regions with climates permitting year-round outdoor performances, such troupes often invested considerable efforts into setting themselves up as performing quacks.
