Cultural Improvisations: Luigi Riccoboni and the Nouveau Théâtre Italien
McMahan, Matthew.
2016
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Abstract: In this dissertation, I study the expression of improvised national
identities that emerged through the collision of diverse forms. The work explores how an
eighteenth-century commedia dell'arte troupe led by Luigi Riccoboni, who were invited to
establish a theatre in France, wanted to reform the reputation of Italian actors abroad but
found they had to adapt and relinquish to the ta... read morestes and expectations of a Parisian
audience instead. Defining the troupe as a transnational enterprise, I demonstrate how
immigration was not an incidental aspect of the troupe but a determining factor of its
theatrical decisions. The Italian actors made their theatre a contact zone of
Franco-Italian commutation in almost every level of their performance: their prefaces and
prologues, their bilingual plays, their style of performance (improvisation), and their
adaptation of low genres. The consequence was a hybrid theatre in France in which both
parties learned, adapted, and changed in the exchange.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2016.
Submitted to the Dept. of Drama.
Advisor: Laurence Senelick.
Committee: Natalya Baldyga, Barbara Grossman, and Mechele Leon.
Keywords: Theater history, and Theater.read less - ID:
- s7526q704
- Component ID:
- tufts:21260
- To Cite:
- DCA Citation Guide EndNote
