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Commedia dell'Arte, (in Italian, "Artistic Comedy") was a form of improvisational theater which began in the 16th century and was popular from then until the 18th century, although it is still performed and enjoyed today. Traveling teams of players would set up an outdoor stage and provide amusement in the form of juggling, acrobatics, and, more typically, humorous plays based on a repertoire of established characters with a rough not detailed story, usually very simple, called Canovaccio.

Sometimes they would perform directly from the back of their traveling wagon (this is however more typical of "Carro di Tespi", sort of travelling theatre that was introduced in Italy during Fascism). Their performances, because they were improvised, were usually topical and were adjusted to satire current events or regional tastes.

The Commedia dell'Arte, with its stock situations and characters and improvised dialogue. has influenced many other forms of drama, from pantomime and Punch and Judy to modern situation comedy and even professional wrestling.

Commedia del'Arte in its turn was influenced by the tradition of Roman comedy.

The troupe of players depicted in William Shakespeare's Hamlet were probably Commedia del'Arte players.

Male Commedia del'Arte stock characters were depicted by actors wearing masks. The female characters, however, were usually not masked, even if females in theatre still were uncommon (roles often played by males en travesti). They included (in the original Italian, other English or French names, or descendant characters in parentheses):

• Arlecchino (Harlequin), an acrobat and clown, he carried a baton which he used to bash other characters, leading to the modern term "slapstick". He wore a cat mask
• Brighella (Figaro, Moliere's Scapin), a money grubbing villain, a partner of Arlecchino
• Columbina (the Servant, Columbine, Harlequine, Pierrette), maidservant to Inamorata and lover of Arlecchino, usually involved in intrigue
• Il Capitano (the Captain), boastful he-man soldier, but a coward underneath
• Il Dottore (the Doctor), Pantalone's friend, and a quack
• Inamorata (the Lover), the "leading woman", who wore no mask (see innamorati)
• Inamorato (the Lover), the "leading man", who wore no mask (see innamorati)
• Pagliaccio (the Clown), a forerunner of today's clowns
• Pantalone (Pantaloon), a rich and miserly merchant
• Pedrolino (Pierrot), a dreamer, white mask
• (he and Arlecchino were the foundation of Punch in the English variation Punch and Judy), a hunchback who chases women
• La Ruffiana (old woman), usually a mother or gossipy townswoman who intrudes into the lives of the Lovers
• Scaramuccia (Scaramouche), a roguish adventurer and swordsman who replaced Il Capitano in later troupes. (The film "Scaramouche" (1952) is about a roguish adventurer and swordsman who hides out in a Commedia del'Arte troupe.)

Masks represented regions or their main towns.