Commedia dell’arte is a style of improvisational theatre that started in Italy in the 1500s and remained popular for the next few centuries. It is characterized by performers in brightly painted masks, playing recognizable stock characters in improvised performances based on loose scenarios or sketches called canovacci.  The term commedia dell’arte translates to “comedy of the craft” or “professional comedy,” since it was practiced by professional theatre troupes performing throughout Europe.

The plots of commedia often involved love, mistaken identities, and humorous misunderstandings, blending slapstick, satire, and social commentary.

The use of stock characters is part of a long tradition in theatrical comedy going back to Roman playwrights like Plautus and Terence, whose stories influenced later works like Macchiavelli’s The Mandragola, Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, and Molière’s The Miser. In fact, you’ll notice stock characters and elements of commedia in our next production, The Barber of Seville.

Commedia troupes performed in public spaces, markets, or temporary stages, making the art form accessible and mobile.  From the time it emerged during the Italian renaissance, it was a working-class form of entertainment that reflected the era’s social dynamics, poking fun at class structures, gender roles, and human folly.

Its decline in the 18^th century came with the rise of scripted theatre and changing audience tastes, but its influence persists to this day.  It was a theatrical ancestor to performance forms like the English music hall and American vaudeville, silent movies, and even the modern TV sitcom.