Old Lady Lent

A ROYALTY-FREE PLAY SCRIPT FROM LA COMMEDIA

The spirits of Lent have been captured, and must pay for their crimes.

This folk-play was recorded in the Veronese countryside by Count Arrigo Balladoro. Villagers would perform it in private homes for a night's entertainment. By the time it was transcribed, the Lenten tradition it referenced was out of practice, and even the villagers didn't know that it had once been a holiday show. "La Vechia" seems to be the equivalent of the English Jack-o-Lent, a scarecrow made of straw that was ritually burned to celebrate the end of the fasting.

A traditional show, from an 1898 transcription

Translated by Talia Felix, 2024

CAST:

Doctor

Arlechin, his servant

Carneval, the spirit of the Carnevale personified

Notary

Old Lady Lent, the season of Lent personified

Old Man Lent, ditto

The Son of the Old Lady

Damsel

Nippers

Two Bailiffs

On to the play