Italian Theatre

Themes of Italian theater were commonly based on the family and adultery until playwright Pirandello marked a breakthrough by writing a script that unveiled the truth of one's identity in the play Maschere Nude (Naked Masks). In the late 1800s, he also introduced the 'theater within a theater' concept that revolutionized traditional forms of drama.

Due to the fact that most Italians spoke in dialect, theater that existed in the country was dialect. But the spotlight shone on Naples for the contributions of a few of its citizens, the De Filippo brothers. Scripts were written about poor and lower middle class characters that reflected daily life and those words reached audiences who often came from those backgrounds to rise in social status through hard work.

Other significant contributors to Italian theater are Giorgio Strehler and Luchino Visconti, who founded modern stage direction in the country. The fifties introduced the directorial talents of Luigi Squarzina and Mario Missiroli. Luca Ronconi and Massimo Castri were popular directors of the seventies and eighties. Today, the Neopolitan tradition continues with the second generation of De Filippos.

Additional Theatre information can be found at Arena di Verona.