The Tradition of the Actor-Author in Italian Theatre.
Edited by Donatella Fischer
Legenda, Italian Perspectives 27, Modern Humanities Research Association and Maney Publishing, 2013; pp. 1-215.
This volume is the result of a conference on the tradition of the actor-author in Italian theatre which was jointly organised by the University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde in October 2008. This is an important theme since Italian theatre, certainly from the commedia dell’arte onwards, has been often defined by the prominence of the actor-author and of the capocomico, that is to say actor-author-director. It is this double or even triple figure which distinguishes Italian theatre from other European theatrical forms and makes it unique.
The purpose of this study is to investigate as wide a sample as possible of authors, texts and performances, ranging from Castiglione and later the commedia, to modern and contemporary Italian theatre. Readers will find contributions on key Neapolitan actors-authors on the late nineteenth and early twentieth century; the influential Neapolitan playwright Eduardo de Filippo, Dario Fo and Franca Rame, Carmelo Bene, Narrative theatre, and the new Neapolitan and Sicilian theatre of Ruccello and Scimone.