Commedia: An Actor's Handbook by John Rudlin

History

Commedia: An Actor's Handbook by John Rudlin This is one of the first books to approach commedia dell'arte from the performers point of view. (For those of you not in the know, commedia is an Italian form of improvised comic theatre from the 1500's, featuring masked characters, comic archetypal characters,and rudimentary plots. As one scholar was known to say, "Commedia is circus with a plot." Rudlin, a British theatre director and teacher, has done a bangup job of explaining the basics of commedia, the characters, the plots, and the history. For my tastes, the historical aspects are a little too stressed (because ultimately, for me, a play that is a historically accurate but not compelling and exciting to watch is a waste of time-- all theatre must pass the audience test. Despite his academic tendencies, Rudlin does a great job of giving exercises and examples of how to play commedia. Well worth reading.