ABSTRACT
The Introduction outlines the dramaturgical practices and the most recent trends in commedia dell’arte scholarship, with a particular emphasis on the books published in the Italian and English languages in the last four decades. The chapter includes the history of the term ‘commedia dell’arte’; a brief survey of the first companies and their composition; a thematic analysis of the historical genre, looking in detail at the employment of fixed social types; the format and dramaturgy of the scenarios, the range of performance activities that come under the umbrella term ‘improvisation’; the relationship between commedia dell’arte and the Baroque culture; and to conclude, a detailed analysis of two scenarios previously unavailable in the English language: The Madness of Orlando, from the Basilio Locatelli collection, and Orlando’s Madness, from the Corsiniana collection.
