MTU Cork Library Catalogue

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Scripts and scenarios : the performance of comedy in Renaissance Italy / Richard Andrews.

By: Andrews, Richard, Professor of Italian.
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookPublisher: Cambridge [England] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1993Description: xiii, 298 p. : maps ; 24 cm. + pbk.ISBN: 0521353572; 9780521034159 .Subject(s): Italian drama -- To 1700 -- History and criticism | Italian drama (Comedy) -- History and criticism | Theater -- Italy -- History -- 16th century | Renaissance -- ItalyDDC classification: 852.05230903
Contents:
Precedents -- The first regular comedies -- The second quarter-century, outside Venice -- The second quarter-century, Venice and Padua -- Improvised comedy -- Obstacles to comedy -- Scripts and scenarios.
Summary: The Italian Renaissance produced a new type of stage comedy, experimental and even revolutionary in its time, by copying and updating the dramatic formats of Plautus and Terence from ancient Rome. These scripted comedies, first written and performed for private audiences, ranged in tone from sober moralism to scurrilous farce, and influenced European dramatists from Shakespeare to Moliere and Lope de Vega. This book gives an account of how the new dramatic experiment was born and grew, moving from closed courtly audiences to a wider public. It examines the performing values of these scripts rather than their literary qualities, in order to demonstrate their links with improvised commedia dell'arte, and thus explores a crucial phase in the development of European theatre. It will be of interest to scholars and students in both theatre history and Italian studies
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
General Lending MTU Cork School of Music Library Lending 852.05230903 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 00175356
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This book examines the scripted stage comedies of the Italian Renaissance, tracing their transition from closed courtly audiences to a wider public. It concentrates on the performing values of their scripts rather than their literary qualities, in order to demonstrate their links with improvised commedia dell'arte, and thus explores in a new way a crucial phase in the development of European theater. It will be of interest to scholars and students in both theater history and Italian studies.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-288) and index.

Precedents -- The first regular comedies -- The second quarter-century, outside Venice -- The second quarter-century, Venice and Padua -- Improvised comedy -- Obstacles to comedy -- Scripts and scenarios.

The Italian Renaissance produced a new type of stage comedy, experimental and even revolutionary in its time, by copying and updating the dramatic formats of Plautus and Terence from ancient Rome. These scripted comedies, first written and performed for private audiences, ranged in tone from sober moralism to scurrilous farce, and influenced European dramatists from Shakespeare to Moliere and Lope de Vega. This book gives an account of how the new dramatic experiment was born and grew, moving from closed courtly audiences to a wider public. It examines the performing values of these scripts rather than their literary qualities, in order to demonstrate their links with improvised commedia dell'arte, and thus explores a crucial phase in the development of European theatre. It will be of interest to scholars and students in both theatre history and Italian studies

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

  • Preface
  • Introduction: Italy in the sixteenth century
  • 1 Precedents
  • 2 The first -regular- comedies
  • 3 The second quarter-century, outside Venice
  • 4 The second quarter-century, Venice and Padua
  • 5 Improvised comedy
  • 6 Obstacles to comedy
  • 7 Scripts and scenarios
  • Notes
  • Chronological bibliography of comedies, 1500-1560
  • General biblography

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