Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793) was born in Venice. His grandfather was from a well-known and wealthy family of Modena and had settled in Venice before squandering the family fortune. Goldoni’s father attempted to study medicine but was unable to graduate and so worked as an apothecary. Goldoni inherited his grandfather’s love of theatre, writing his first play at the age of eight and running away to join a company of travelling actors when he was just fourteen.

He studied law and was employed for a time by the Republic of Venice. In 1734, he began collaborating with the Grimani family’s company at the Teatro San Samuele. His first comedy with fully written dialogue, abandoning the improvisation of commedia dell’arte, was The fashionable woman. Goldoni reformed Italian theatre, creating heroes who were drawn with simplicity, naturalness and individual psychology. He eschewed traditional stereotypes and established comic tricks, as well as the use of masks, arguing that they were less convincing and immediate than an actor’s own facial expressions. His protagonists spoke a living language, which differentiated them from the “types” of the commedia dell’arte and marked them out as characters linked to the social, ideological and moral environment of Venice. Goldoni was criticised for his innovations and in 1762 moved to Paris in order to work with the Comédie Italienne. This was not as lucrative as he had hoped, however, and in order to make ends meet, he was forced to accept the position of an Italian-language teacher at the court of Louis XV. In 1769, he was granted a meagre pension, which he received until 1792, when all royal grants were cancelled by the National Assembly of the new revolutionary regime. He lived in poverty and ill health until his death in 1793, one day before it was decided to reinstate his pension.

 

A short list of his plays: 
The servant of two masters, The comic theatre, The liar, Pamela, The true friend, The coffee house, The innkeeper woman, The impresario from Smyrna, A curious mishap, The new house, The Venetian twins, The boors, The holiday trilogy, One of the last nights of carnival, The Ghioggia scuffles.

 

The world is a beautiful book that is of no use to those who cannot read…(Pamela)

 

Here indeed is something that never falls out of fashion. Money… Expenses…(The holiday trilogy)