Commedia erudita are Italian comedies written for the enjoyment of scholars in the sixteenth century.
[1] Audiences could expect plentiful use of monologues, asides, over-hearing, misunderstandings, mistaken identity, and disguise.
The comedy is derived at the expense of authority figures behaving foolishly or amorous young men.
A century prior to the creation of commedia erudita, twelve previously unknown Plautus plays were discovered by Nicholas Cusanus, and Donatus's commentary on Terence was uncovered by Giovanni Aurispa.
[3] Roman theatre took a century from rediscovery to restoration due to three major factors: It was difficult for audiences to relate to many situations and themes expressed in the stories.
Also, at this time there was still considerable ignorance of the Romans' stage structure, which was vastly different from fifteenth-century theater spaces.
Because the public was already accustomed to this level of shock value, commedia erudita writers had to find a way to include spectacle in their shows as well.
[5] These didactic literary experiments were almost always prose pieces, written by students, teachers, and scholars calling out against authority.
[5] Published in 1444, written in Latin by of Enea Silvio Piccolomini (future Pope Pius II), was the first humanistic work majorly inspired by Plautus.
Antonio Barzizza decided to write about something that recently happened on his street where an adulterous woman is branded by her husband as punishment.
What happens next is the reason the prose is interesting; the husband and wife are helped by two servants and at this time there is a conversation that contains clever cross-person dialogue – much like the writings of Plautus.
It has a complicated plot that focuses on two separate, but interrelated love stories; this is a huge step forward for a Latin playwright.
As in Roman comedy, intrigue is created when a witty servant tricks the elderly authority figures into giving her their money.
[6] Before the Roman texts started being used for inspiration, there were many story-telling elements that the Latin writers had not figured out yet.
The purpose of breaking up the acts is to allow time for intermedi which are small intermissions and the chance to see spectacles, listen to music, and dance.