Gender and the Italian Stage
From the Renaissance to the Present Day

An exploration of the portrayal of gender on the Italian stage from the Renaissance to the present, in a social and theoretical context.

Maggie Günsberg (Author)

9780521590280, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 December 1997

288 pages, 6 b/w illus.
23.6 x 15.9 x 2.1 cm, 0.53 kg

'While an eclectic approach draws on semiotics and psychoanalysis as well as philosophy and performance theory, Gunsberg remains alert to regional variation and to socio-economic shifts.' New Theatre Quarterly Book Reviews

Maggie Günsberg explores the intersection between gender portrayal and other social categories of class, age and the family in the Italian theatre from the Renaissance to the present day. She examines the developing relationship between patriarchal strategies and the formal properties of the dramatic genre such as plot, comedy and realism. She also considers conventions specific to drama in performance, including images of both femininity and masculinity. An interdisciplinary approach, drawing on semiotics, psychoanalysis, philosophy, theories of spectatorship and dramatic theory from a feminist perspective, informs Günsberg's critique of landmarks in Italian theatrical history, including work by Machiavelli, Ariosto, Goldoni, D'Annunzio and Pirandello. The book concludes with a chapter on the plays of Franca Rame, assessing the impact of this important figure on contemporary Italian theatre.

List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Waiting in the wings: female characters in Italian Renaissance comedy
2. Gender deceptions: cross-dressing in Italian Renaissance comedy
3. Artful women: morality and materialism in Goldoni
4. Masterful men: difference and fantasy in D'Annunzio
5. Patriarchs and prodigals: the generation gap in Pirandello
6. Centre stage: Franca Rame's female parts
Notes
Bibliography
Subject index
Name and text index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG]