The Tradition of the Actor-Author in Italian Theatre

Donatella Fischer

The Tradition of the Actor-Author in Italian Theatre

Edited by Donatella Fischer

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Italian Perspectives 27

Legenda

25 September 2013 • 230pp

ISBN: 978-1-907975-80-6 (hardback) • RRP £80, $110, €95

ItalianDrama

The central importance of the actor-author is a distinctive feature of Italian theatrical life, in all its eclectic range of regional cultures and artistic traditions. The fascination of the figure is that he or she stands on both sides of one of theatre's most important power relationships: between the exhilarating freedom of performance and the austere restriction of authorship and the written text. This broad-ranging volume brings together critical essays on the role of the actor-author, spanning the period from the Renaissance to the present. Starting with Castiglione, Ruzante and the commedia dell’arte, and surveying the works of Dario Fo, De Filippo and Bene, among others, the contributors cast light on a tradition which continues into Neapolitan and Sicilian theatre today, and in Italy's currently fashionable ‘narrative theatre’, where the actor-author is centre stage in a solo performance.

Donatella Fischer is Lecturer in Italian at the University of Glasgow. Her publications include a study of the theatre of Eduardo De Filippo (Legenda, 2007) and articles on the literature and theatre of Trieste.

Reviews:

‘This is a broad-ranging collection of essays from expert contributors... All sixteen articles, while serving to highlight different periods of theatrical history, revolve around what is widely recognized by now as a constant and distinctive feature of Italian theatre: the centrality of the players and their fundamental dramaturgic role.’ — Francesca Savoia, Modern Language Review 110.3, July 2015, 885-87 (full text online)

Contents:

1-8	Introduction Donatella Fischer	Cite
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9-19	The Actor-Author in Castiglione’s ‘Il Cortegiano’: ‘lo esser travestito porta seco una certa libertà e licenzia’ Sarah Cockram	Cite
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20-29	‘Perché molte cose stanno ben nella penna che nella scena starebben male’: Reading Between the Lines of the Surviving Ruzante Texts Ronnie Ferguson	Cite
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30-40	Isabella Andreini’s Stage Repertoire: The ‘Lettere’ and ‘Fragmenti’ Richard Andrews	Cite
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41-57	‘Commedie fortunate...’: ‘Le due comedie in comedia’ di Giovan Battista Andreini Roberto Cuppone	Cite
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58-69	The Actor and the Author: Renaissance Theatre in England and Italy Joseph Farrell	Cite
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70-84	Goldoni, Gozzi, e il lavoro con l’attore Paolo Bosisio	Cite
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85-99	Napoli tra Ottocento e Novecento: dalla drammaturgia dell’attore alla drammaturgia dell’autore e ritorno Armando Rotondi	Cite
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100-109	Il dilemma del teatro: ‘La parte di Amleto’ di Eduardo De Filippo Donatella Fischer	Cite
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110-127	Characters in an English Adaptation of Napoli milionaria! Alessandra de Martino Cappuccio	Cite
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128-135	La scrittura ‘sul pubblico’: The Fo-Rame Method Marco Valleriani	Cite
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136-145	Franca Rame’s Dowry: How the Rame Family Tradition Lives on in the Theatre of Dario Fo and Franca Rame Luciana D'Arcangeli	Cite
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146-157	Il ‘funerale dell’orale’. Carmelo Bene: la scena e la scena della pagina Franco Vazzoler	Cite
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158-165	The Actor-Narrator Paolo Puppa	Cite
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166-171	Marco Baliani’s Theatrical Storytelling of Wonderment Margaret Rose	Cite
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172-187	Sguardi su una Napoli contemporanea attraverso il teatro di Annibale Ruccello Mariano D’amora	Cite
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188-200	Il buio in fondo al sacco: parole in fuga e corpi senza scampo nel teatro di Spiro Scimone Dario Tomasello	Cite
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Cite this volume in standard MHRA style

Bibliography entry:

Fischer, Donatella (ed.), The Tradition of the Actor-Author in Italian Theatre, Italian Perspectives, 27 (Legenda, 2013)

First footnote reference: ³⁵ The Tradition of the Actor-Author in Italian Theatre, ed. by Donatella Fischer, Italian Perspectives, 27 (Legenda, 2013), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: ³⁷ Fischer, p. 47.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

Cite this volume in MHRA author-date style

Bibliography entry:

Fischer, Donatella (ed.). 2013. The Tradition of the Actor-Author in Italian Theatre, Italian Perspectives, 27 (Legenda)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Fischer 2013: 21).

Example footnote reference: ³⁵ Fischer 2013: 21.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

This Legenda title was first published by Modern Humanities Research Association and Maney Publishing but rights to it are now held by Modern Humanities Research Association and Routledge.

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Permanent link to this title:

www.mhra.org.uk/publications/Tradition-Actor-Author-in-Italian-Theatre
www.mhra.org.uk/publications/ip-27