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If, as this volume argues, early modern drama was an international phenomenon, the commedia dell’arte was from its very inception the perfect transnational machine, and the reasons for this were material, systemic, and linguistic. Although almost infinite variety (and all of the major early modern dramatic genres) could be alchemized by the arte’s system of theatergrams and “rhapsodically” combinable verbal units,1 the actors must have realized from the very beginning that their repertoire would have cloyed a year-round, geographically fixed audience. Nor, of course, did they enjoy a national center such as London or Madrid, or the capacity for capital accumulation of which Shakespeare’s joint-stock company was capable. Having to learn from the very beginning the perilous art of border crossing between the Italian states, facilitated but not guaranteed by ducal passport letters, they were always, already viaggianti.2 After the “virtual,” international road was established by cross-dynastic alliances, such as those manifold links forged between the Gonzagas and the Habsburgs in the late sixteenth century, the comici plied the real road from Mantua to Linz, or from Florence to Paris. Their systemically based repertoire of theatergrams, appropriating a transnational language of gesture and acrobatic-style theater, traveled well across regions and nations, whether distinct by dialect or language. Linguistic hybridity was built into the commedia dell’arte from the beginning. The very character structure of the commedia dell’arte generated translinguistic exchanges (albeit of a stylized nature) between the Venetian Pantalone, the Bolognese Dottore, the Bergamask zanni, the Spanish Capitano, and others. When actors such as Zan Ganassa and Tristano Martinelli crossed borders, they mixed languages.
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