ABSTRACT
The theatrical descriptions of Hippolytus Guarinonius are among the most substantial of several significant discoveries of visual and textual documentation relating to the commedia dell"arte in recent decades. 1 Not noted in the standard bibliography of the commedia dell"arte, they have made far less impact on theatre historians than their early date and richness of theatrical detail warrant? Here, selected descriptions are examined in the context of related textual and visual records, in order to highlight aspects of the new information they offer on the staging of comic routines, and to draw attention to some limitations of using material of this type as historical evidence for stage practice.
