Tag: Commedia dell'Arte

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The English pantomime developed out of the commedia dell'arte, a form of theatre that arose in Italy in the 16th century, and was characterised by comic improvisation based on sketches and masked types. Unusually for the period, the commedia dell'arte featured professional actors, with women rather than boys playing the female roles. Performers typically acted outside on temporary stages, utilising props,...

Pierrot, the sad clown in white face and loose blouse, expressing slowly and subtly in the liminal space beyond words, emerged in the nineteenth century from his roots in stock comedies and pantomimes to become the embodiment of a certain strain of artistic sentiment: sensitive, melancholy, and intrinsically alone, playful and daring through the subversion of language while suggesting...