La parola e il gesto: alcune considerazioni sulle tecniche di recitazione nel teatro italiano del Cinquecento

Word and Gesture: a Few Remarks about the Declamatory Technique in the 16th Century In her essey the author focuses her attention on the technics of acting in the very first period of the Italian theatre, reborn in XVI century. Analysing the tractat of A. Ingegneri, the dialog of L. de’Sommi and other testimonies devoted to the scene practice of those days, the author of the essay describe the main rules of acting, on the one hand refered to the court theatre, on the other to the commedia dell’arte. In the court theatre decorations and the text of the play used to count much more than in commedia dell’arte and were thought to compensate for – as even in part – the poor level of acting of the interpreters – courtiers. On the other hand the basis of the commedia dell’arte theatre was acting, whilst the role of decorations was very limitated. Nevertheless the main rules of acting seem similar in both types of theatre.