SOURCE: Peabody, Ruth E. “Characters and Actors.” In Commedia Works, pp. 7-22. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1984.

In the following essay, Peabody outlines the main characters of the commedia dell'arte and names some of the actors who specialized in those roles.

Commedia actors and their characters are inextricably interwoven. All elements are significant, but the life of the form resided within those creative performers whose development of particular stock types spanned entire careers. How did they accomplish this? Petrolini, a modern day Commedia actor, once responded: “I find the inspiration for my art simply in the exercise of my intelligence.”¹ The combination of intellect and great physical ability resulted in the establishment of Arlechinno, Pantalone, Pulcinella, Dottore, Captain Spavento and their many derivatives.

Since an actor usually learned only one part, more time could be devoted to exploring a character, until eventually the character became second nature to...