Scarecrow Press
Pages: 256
Trim: 8½ x 11
978-0-8108-6033-9 • Paperback • November 2007 • $88.00 • (£68.00) - Currently out of stock. Copies will arrive soon.
978-1-4617-5021-5 • eBook • November 2007 • $83.50 • (£64.00)
Francesco Cotticelli is a specialist in theatre history at the University of Cagliari.
Anne Goodrich Heck is a professional translator.
Thomas F. Heck is emeritus professor of the Ohio State University and has published extensively on the performing arts.
Together they translated and edited The Commedia dell'Arte in Naples: A Bilingual Edition of the 176 Casamarciano Scenarios (Scarecrow Press, 2001).
Part 1 Foreword
Part 2 Translators' Preface
Part 3 Introduction
Part 4 Facsimile and Translation of Title Page
Part 5 Facsimile of Original Table of Contents
Part 6 Your Excellencies [Dedication]
Part 7 To the Reader
Part 8 Part One [Acting from Memory]
Chapter 9 Preface
Chapter 10 1. What the Art of Acting Is, and What Its Parts Are
Chapter 11 2. Concerning the State, or Theatre, and Its Disposition
Chapter 12 3. Concerning Costumes Appropriate to Tragedy, Comedy, Satire, etc.
Chapter 13 4. On the Choice of Tragedy, Comedy, and Pastorale, and before Them, Opera
Chapter 14 5. About Dramas in Prose
Chapter 15 6. About Choosing Actors Capable of Performing
Chapter 16 7. About the Best Pronunciation for Acting, and What Defects Are to Be Noted in Various Dialects
Chapter 17 8. On Memory, and How It Is Used to Learn the Parts
Chapter 18 9. On Delivering a Speech, or Acting
Chapter 19 10. About the Voice and How to Regulate and Vary It in Performance
Chapter 20 11. On Appropriate Gestures for the Actor
Chapter 21 12. On Certain Actions Performed on Stage
Chapter 22 13. On Defects that Occur while Performing, and How to Correct Them
Chapter 23 14. On Particular Characters in Tragedies, Comedies, Pastorales, and Tragicomedies
Chapter 24 15. On Prologues, Intermezzi, Choruses, Music, and Dance
Chapter 25 Endnotes—Annotations to Part I
Part 26 Part Two [Acting by Improvisation]
Chapter 27 Preface - On Improvisation in Performance
Chapter 28 1. On the Roles of Lovers
Chapter 29 2. On the Soliloquies in Tuscan Roles
Chapter 30 3. On the Roles of Female Lovers
Chapter 31 4. On Amorous Dialogues, etc.
Chapter 32 5. On Closing Couplets and Verses
Chapter 33 6. On the Roles of Fathers and Old Men
Chapter 34 7. On the Capitan Bravo Roles, and Others
Chapter 35 8. On the Comic Roles of First and Second Zanni
Chapter 36 9. On the Roles of the Maidservant and the Old Woman
Chapter 37 10. On Jests, Witticisms, Quips, and Other Pleasantries for the Comic Parts
Chapter 38 11. On Scenes with Extended, Equivocal Metaphors, and Others
Chapter 39 12. On Ridiculous Actions, Gestures, Disguises, Nocturnal Scenes, and Songs
Chapter 40 13. On the Improvised Soggetto
Chapter 41 14. On How to Coordinate the Soggetto
Chapter 42 15. On Improvised Intermezzi
Chapter 43 Endnotes—Annotations to Part 2
Part 44 Bibliography
Part 45 Nota filologica
Part 46 Index
Part 47 About the Editors
After giving us the dual-language The Commedia dell'Arte in Naples: A Bilingual Edition of the 176 Casamarciano Scenarios (Scarecrow Press, 2001), Francesco Cotticelli, Anne Goodrich Heck, and Thomas F. Heck now offer this precious, learned, well-researched yet agile volume with accompanying website, where the original is digitized. Scholars of theater, of Italian language and culture, of Naples, rejoice: we have another excellent tool available to our research and teaching.
— Annali D'Italianistica