The perils of inter-cultural relations : the Commedia dell'arte and the restoration stage

Abstract

While the activities and influence of Commedia dell'Arte performers on the Continent, and more particularly in Paris; are fairly well documented, in England, from the late 1570's through to the closure of the theatres in 1642, there are few traces of their presence, and we see them only through a glass very darkly. From the time of the Restoration of Charles II and the reopening of the English theatres in 1660, however, the picture appears to be somewhat clearer, for conditions then became more propitious for Italian acting itinerants: actresses were now permitted on the English stage, there was a new interest in stage decoration and spectacle, and theatre was more closely tied to the court than it had been hitherto. The influence of foreign drama and stages, too, became strongly felt in London, in part because Royalist exiles had acquired experience of theatre on the Continent during the interregnum, particularly through increased contact with the French court and its culture; in part because Louis XIV's patronage of the arts and sciences provided something of a model for Charles II to emulate after his return. The reputation of the French theatre among the English educated elite in the second half of the 17th century stood high, as witness not only the many translations and adaptations of dramatists like Corneille, Quinault and Moliere, but the ready plundering by Restoration dramatists of the French drama for plots, characters and stage strategies, the frequency with which English courtiers visited French theatres, and the readiness with which French drama and dramatic criticism is cited by English writers of the period.