Cairns, Christopher

Ariosto's the Supposes, Machiavelli's the Mandrake, Intronati's the Deceived Three Italian Renaissance Comedies

1996 0-7734-8821-9
This volume offers newly-translated texts of three established classics of Italian Renaissance comedy, with scholarly introductions and bibliographies for each: Ariosto's seminal second play, The Supposes; Machiavelli's Mandrake; and the composition of the Sienese Intronati, The Deceived. The works are linked by documentable bond of influence, and also represent a solid chapter in the history of theatrical staging, since there are traces of evidence of idealised cityscape perspective sets for early performances of both The Supposes and The Deceived. These plays embody distinctive traditions and contributions to the genesis of European comedy.

Commedia Dell'arte From the Renaissance to Dario Fo

1989 0-88946-080-9

Scenery, Set and Staging in the Italian Renaissance Studies in the Practice of Theatre

1996 0-7734-8814-6
Papers collected in this volume were given at the Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, in March, 1993, at a conference organised to coincide with the English premiere of the first English-language staging of Pietro Aretino's Talanta. Grants had been obtained to construct the Roman perspective set described with such enthusiasm by contemporaries such as Vasari and Aretino himself for the Venice staging of the play in 1542. According to current research, the set has been seen as one of the earliest attempts to reproduce a real place on a stage with topographical accuracy. This set had been reconstructed full-size on the Aberystwyth stage according to the suggested source, and the play had been translated, adapted with new music and modern choreography. Experts on Renaissance theatre practice and in particular on aspects of staging and set-design gathered for this conference. Contains many photographs and drawings.

THREE RENAISSANCE COMEDIES: Ariosto’s Lena Ruzante’s Posh Talk Aretino’s Talanta

1991 0-7734-9450-2
This volume collects three Italian Renaissance comedies not readily available to the English-speaking reader and director: Ariosto's Lena (never before translated into English); Ruzante's Posh Talk (also never translated from the Paduan and Bergamask dialects); and Aretino's Talanta. Of contrasting styles, they share some characteristics, which mirror the advance of all Italian literature from humanism to the Counter-reformation, from Bembo to Sperone Speroni and from rudimentary or symbolic staging to a comparatively sophisticated realism in the treatment of stage space. With illustrations.