Commedia del Arte – the roots of Pantomime and Pierrots

Commedia del Arte. The Italian Renaissance show-form, usually performed by travelling players, inspired and influenced the characters we know as Punch & Judy, Harelquin, Pierrots, the English Clown Joey Grimaldi, and our concepts of Pantomime and Clowning in general in its Western cultural idioms. Commedia del Arte shows that toured England also informed Shakepeare and are the basis of story-lines and scripts for several of his comedies.