ABSTRACT
Carlo Mazzone-Clementi said, “Anyone can open a door marked Commedia dell’Arte. But having opened it, how does one know what to choose?” (2000: Internet). I hope what is now clear to the reader is how muddy the waters of Commedia performance study are, but I furthermore hope that I have provided some clarity in what you, the reader, could choose. Any study that attempts to find a single clear line of accepted practice, either historical or contemporary, will not succeed. Taviani called historical practice a series of epiphenomena and offers us the pearl of wisdom that the history of Commedia dell’Arte is (thanks to Maurice Sand 1 and a few others) largely the history of the myth of Commedia dell’Arte. Modern practices are both synthetic and syncretic, drawn from a variety of differing training sources, and (with very few exceptions), significantly, still hark back to the fictive paradigm. This paradigm, notwithstanding its academic creakiness, is still remarkably durable and was (and still is) the springboard that launched a range of re-inventions and practices, as I hope the first part of this volume has indicated. None of these are ‘correct’ interpretations, however, but contemporary experiments in using “the angels and devils of the past to create a theatre for the present” (Boso: ibid.). These varied dramaturgic approaches are reached through validation in the public sphere, whether through successful performance or through effective actor training regimes. In terms of contemporary dramaturgy any arguments over historical authenticity should be left at the doors of those who prioritise it, such as historical re-enactors and theatre historians (no disrespect to either party). In terms of present practice, the only authentic reality that makes sense to me is the one created in the continually unfolding present of a live performance. The study of Neo-Commedia dramaturgy is how we, with rigour and virtuosity, get to that present place. The history of Commedia is also the history of comedy, and part of its allure is to see what we can extrapolate from these mythic ancient practices to improve our comedy today.
