Balli di Sfessania by Jacques Callot (1621)

Commedia dell’arte is a complex and heterogeneous theatrical phenomenon originated in Italy in the 16th century. It flourished throughout all Europe for centuries changing and adapting to the demands and taste of different audiences in different epochs.

Often Commedia dell’Arte is described as an outdoor popular form of street theatre based on improvised scenarios between masked stock characters. This is partly true but not accurate. This definition is too superficial to explain the complexity of Commedia dell’Arte, its longevity and the massive impact it had on the development of European theatre.

Commedia dell’Arte can be better defined as a ‘cultural phenomenon’: the result of a meeting between popular culture (oral tradition) & high culture (written tradition/literature): a fertile and exciting moment of ‘reconciliation between opposites’.