A Treatise on Acting, From Memory and by Improvisation (1699) by Andrea Perrucci: Bilingual Edition in English and Italian Paperback – 9 January 2008

This is critical source material for anyone interested in commedia dell'arte and the Italian theatre of the 1500's - 1700's. It is also useful for those interested in how theatre in the western world came to become fully integrated into European society. Some of this work has appeared in translations in other collections, but the majority of it is here available in English for the first time. The original Italian appears side by side on the pages along with the English translation. The bibliography, index, and end notes are also very useful. Though the Treatise was published in 1699 and is thus a century removed from the beginnings of the commedia dell'arte, it nonetheless is primary material.

this is a well-translated, fascinating book, written in 1699, on the art of acting and improvisation. it is also inadvertently about writing. anyone wishing to study playwrights of comedy of the period, here is a key to the forms that were popular then. for these interested in the history of acting, here is a wealth of background, and for teachers, students and performers of Commedia Dell' Arte, this is your handbook!