Showcases cutting-edge research into this most famous tradition of European theatre, presented in English for the first time.

Introduction: commedia dell'arte: history, myth, reception Daniele Vianello; Part I. Elements: 1. Knots and doubleness: the engine of the Commedia dell'Arte Ferdinando Taviani; 2. Popular traditions, carnival, dance Riccardo Drusi; 3. Notebooks, prologues and scenarios Stefan Hulfeld; 4. Between improvisation and book Piermario Vescovo; Part II. Commedia dell'Arte and Europe: 5. Journeys Siro Ferrone; 6. France Virginia Scott; 7. The Iberian Peninsula María del Valle Ojeda Calvo; 8. German-speaking countries M. A. Katritzky; 9. Eighteenth-century Russia Laurence Senelick; 10. England Robert Henke; 11. Northern Europe Bent Holm; Part III. Social and Cultural Conflicts: 12. Commedia dell'arte and the church Bernadette Majorana; 13. Commedia dell'arte and dominant culture Raimondo Guarino; Part IV. Opera, Music, Dance, Circus and Iconography: 14. Commedia dell'arte in opera and music 1550-1750 Anne MacNeil; 15. From Mozart to Henze Andrea Fabiano; 16. Commedia dell'Arte in dance Stefano Tomassini; 17. The circus and the artist as Saltimbanco Sandra Pietrini; 18. Iconography of the commedia dell'arte Renzo Guardenti; Part V. Commedia dell'Arte from the Avant-Grade to Contemporary Theatre: 19. Stanislavsky and Meyerhold Franco Ruffini; 20. Copeau and the work of the actor Marco Consolini; 21. Staging Gozzi: Meyerhold, Vakhtangov, Brecht, Besson Franco Vazzoler; 22. Staging Goldoni: Reinhardt, Strehler Erika Fischer-Lichte; 23. Eduardo De Filippo and the Mask of Pulcinella Teresa Megale; 24. Dario Fo, Commedia dell'arte and political theatre Paolo Puppa; 25. Commedia dell'arte and experimental theatre Mirella Schino; Conclusion: commedia dell'arte and cultural heritage Christopher B. Balme.