Commedia dell'Arte at Bibiena Theater

The Foundation “Mantova Capitale Europea dello Spettacolo” has organized numerous performances and competitions to be held at the Bibiena Theatre to celebrate the fundamental contribution given by the city of Mantua to the tradition of the Commedia dell’Arte. Commedia dell’Arte, a form of comedy, was born in Italy in the sixteenth century, when actors and comedians created, with regular contracts, companies that travelled around Italy and Europe. This is the origin of the modern theatre in the form of a mutual collaboration among actors that still today defines the nature of a company. Originally, the actors didn’t perform following pre-fixed scripts, instead they improvised on “canovacci” that provided a very fast-paced plot to follow.