A practical guide to the skills, characters and history of Commedia Dell'Arte through graded games and illustrated exercises - a useful tool in any actor's training and a discipline for all forms of physical theatre. Chapters include: * Warm-Up Games * Mime and Movement Games * Word Games * Using Face Masks * The Legacy of Commedia dell'Arte, a chapter looking at the individual Masks or characters in the traditional Commedia dell'Arte.

A unique collection of performance pieces and improvisation exercises in the Commedia style, a companion volume to the author's best-selling Playing Commedia. Commedia Plays offers eight original short plays from across the different periods and styles of Commedia dell'Arte - suitable for performance on stage as well as classroom and workshop study. Also included is a collection of Lazzi, the pieces of 'business' that form the basis of Commedia's comic action, ranging from the 'Double Takes' to 'The Unwanted Proposal'. These can be inserted into the written text or explored and improvised in the drama studio.