Abstract

The last 20 years have seen a huge expansion in the number of theatre schools and universities that teach Commedia dell’Arte as an ordinary core subject that theatre practitioners should know about. It is no longer necessary to go to the Piccolo Teatro School or to Lecoq to meet Commedia masks as part of basic training. However, the relevance of Commedia today is not always apparent to the students, or even to the teachers; it is sometimes taught as a historical Italian curiosity, worth knowing about and entertaining for a short workshop, but not something one can really put into practice.