This volume of Twentieth-Century Italian Drama covers the period spanning from the end of the nineteenth century to that immediately following World War II, displaying the rich breadth of Italian theater in the modern age, from the comedic legacy carried on by such writers as Eduardo De Filippo to the delicate tragedy of playwrights like Federigo Tozzi.Included are seven full-length plays, five one-act plays, one variety sketch, and three futurist sintesi (sketches). Brief introductions preceding each play contextualize the piece within the various movements in Italian theater, and biographies of the editors and translators appear at the end of the volume. An extensive bibliography offers many suggestions for further reading in English.The playwrights included are Gabriele D'Annunzio, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Ettore Petrolini, Raffaele Viviani, Pier Maria Rosso di San Secondo, Federigo Tozzi, Massimo Bontempelli, Achille Campanile, Italo Svevo, Luigi Pirandello, Eduardo De Filippo, and Ugo Betti.

The volume The Italian Method of la drammatica: its Legacy and Reception includes the long and complex investigation to identify the Italian acting-code system of the drammatica used by nineteenth-century Italian actors such as Adelaide Ristori, Giovanni Grasso, Tommaso Salvini, Eleonora Duse. In particular, their acting inspired Stanislavsky who reformedtwentieth-century stage. The declamatory code of the drammatica was composed by symbols for notation of voice and gesture which Italian actors marked in their prompt-books.The discovery of the drammatica’s code sheds new light on nineteenth-century acting. Having deciphered the phonetic symbols of the code, Anna Sica has given birth an investigation with a group of outstanding scholars in an attempt to explore the drammatica’s legacy, and its reception in Europe as well as in Asia. At this stage new evidence has emerged proving that, for instance, the symbol used by the drammatica actors to sign the colorito vocale was known to English actors in the second half of the nineteenth century.By noting how Adelaide Ristori passed on her art to Irving’s actress Genevieve Ward, and how Stanislavsky, almost aflame, moulded his system from Duse’s acting, an unexplored variety in the reception of the drammatica’s legacy is revealed.