The 1568 Production

A Royalty-Free Play Script from La Commedia

This scenario was adapted from a conversation recorded in a book from 1568, describing a then-recent commedia production that had been performed for some German noblemen.

The authors of the scenario appear to be two of the actors, Orlando di Lasso and Massimo Troiano.

Translated by ChatGPT with editing, corrections and oversight by Talia Felix

10 roles were described (with some of the actors playing multiple parts), though it's not always apparent how all of them fit into the play. The specific songs used in the play are not named, but, di Lasso published a book of music a few years later, with several tunes making commedia dell'arte references. You can see a modern edition at https://imslp.org/wiki/Libro_de_villanelle%2C_moresche_et_altre_canzoni_(Lassus%2C_Orlande_de)

Characters:

A singer/prologue
The Magnificent Pantalone di Bisognosi
Zanni
Clumsy Peasant
Polidoro the inamorato
The Desperate Spaniard, a.k.a. Capitano
Camilla the inamorata
Ercole, her maid [who with such a name must be quite butch - in English, "Hercules"]*
Terzo*
A French servant
[musicians]

On to Act 1

*Other translations take this to be an actor named Ercole Terzo, and maybe it is so; but the edition of the text given above definitely prints "la sua serva Ercole, Terzo, & un servo franzese" which can't really be read any way but that the servant girl is named Ercole and another character Terzo.

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