The Tradition of the Actor-Author in Italian Theatre

Edited by Donatella Fischer

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

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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

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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

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30-40

Isabella Andreini’s Stage Repertoire: The ‘Lettere’ and ‘Fragmenti’
Richard Andrews

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41-57

‘Commedie fortunate...’: ‘Le due comedie in comedia’ di Giovan Battista Andreini
Roberto Cuppone

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58-69

The Actor and the Author: Renaissance Theatre in England and Italy
Joseph Farrell

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70-84

Goldoni, Gozzi, e il lavoro con l’attore
Paolo Bosisio

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85-99

Napoli tra Ottocento e Novecento: dalla drammaturgia dell’attore alla drammaturgia dell’autore e ritorno
Armando Rotondi

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100-109

Il dilemma del teatro: ‘La parte di Amleto’ di Eduardo De Filippo
Donatella Fischer

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110-127

Characters in an English Adaptation of Napoli milionaria!
Alessandra de Martino Cappuccio

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128-135

La scrittura ‘sul pubblico’: The Fo-Rame Method
Marco Valleriani

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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

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146-157

Il ‘funerale dell’orale’. Carmelo Bene: la scena e la scena della pagina
Franco Vazzoler

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158-165

The Actor-Narrator
Paolo Puppa

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166-171

Marco Baliani’s Theatrical Storytelling of Wonderment
Margaret Rose

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172-187

Sguardi su una Napoli contemporanea attraverso il teatro di Annibale Ruccello
Mariano D’amora

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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

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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.)

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.)


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