Isabella Andreini
[2] Andreini was a member of the Compagnia dei Comici Gelosi, a touring theatre company that performed in Italy and France.
She was very interested in literary culture and became fluent in several languages[6] which she put to use in her La Pazzia d'Isabella (The Divine Madness of Isabella).
[8] From the beginning, Andreini particularly performed the role of the enamored woman, the prima donna innamorata, and she improvised to create a character that was less dull and more perceptive.
Andreini played the power dynamics for comedy in her characters; she recognized the importance of her status as the leading actress in a new profession.
[15] In 1589, Andreini performed her comic work La Pazzia d'Isabella (Isabella's madness) for the Florentine court during the wedding of Ferdinando I de' Medici and Christina of Lorraine, and the details of the mostly improvised play have survived to modern times.
[15] By this point, Andreini was well known enough to be addressed as the "star" performer of the troupe, referred to by Maria de Medici in a letter as "the actress Isabella and her company".
[5] In 1602, Andreini toured northern Italy, and in 1603 performed again for Henry IV, Marie de' Medici and a local audience at Fontainebleau and Paris.
The themes of her plays were shaded with some notions questioning the situation of the woman in the society of that epoch; she wrote with a masculine voice in her creations that showed her virtue.
Other female playwrights also started to introduce these ideas; however, Andreini's golden reputation and growing popularity allowed her to address these topics without the repercussions.
[18] Indeed, after publishing Mirtilla, she began corresponding with contemporary intellectuals, attending their forums, and – an uncommon achievement for a woman in her era – in 1601 she was integrated into the literary society of the Accademia degli Intenti of Pavia, for which she adopted the nickname of Accesa.
In a poetry contest held by the Cardinal Giorgio Cinthio Aldobrandini of Rome, Isabella Andreini attained second place, only behind the Renaissance poet Torquato Tasso.
[21] Andreini and Inglis (a well-known French actress at the time) demonstrate that early modern women who were neither aristocratic or particularly wealthy could labour and think transnationally and be appreciated for it.
[6] In particular, this school of theater has studied the posthumous works of Andreini, Rime, Parte seconda and Fragmenti de alcune scritture.
