A Review of Natalie Crohn Schmitt, Performing Commedia dell’Arte, 1570–1630 (Routledge, 2019)

Much has been written about commedia dell’arte over the years, and Natalie Crohn Schmitt’s 2019 publication provides evidence of that. What one could call an impressive bibliography occupies a large part of an otherwise not very comprehensive book. It would seem, then, that the primary purpose of Performing Commedia dell’Arte, 1570–1630, a book which received the 2020 Ennio Flaiano Award in Italian Culture, is to present the existing state of knowledge rather than to put forward new theses on one of the most widespread theatrical genres in Italian (and not only Italian) culture and, above all, in theatre studies worldwide. This is not the first time that the author—an experienced researcher working at the University of Illinois, Chicago—has tackled commedia dell’arte. Published in 2014, Schmitt’s Befriending the Commedia dell’Arte of Flaminio Scala: The Comic Scenarios was devoted to a collection of old prints documenting the title scenarios. She went on to present source material that is fundamental to understanding the genre, which she brilliantly analyzed. The book raised the interest of researchers and was discussed in the most important specialist journals.1 It was undoubtedly a great contribution to the field of theatre studies. It is difficult to discuss Performing Commedia dell’Arte, 1570–1630 without referring to the author’s previous book. It is a kind of an appendix to, or perhaps a more popular version of, her history of dell’arte, intended for less specialized readers. Although Schmitt also frequently refers to Flaminio Scala’s scripts, she places her story of dell’arte in the broad context of cultural and literary studies. In fact, she has written a book about the contemporary establishment of dell’arte rather than the traditional historical narrative.