Tracing the influences, impact and inheritances of Commedia dell'Arte within Shakespeare's Writing

William Shakespeare’s work and the Italian theatre style of commedia dell’arte may appear to be twodifferent styles but they are linked through the work of Will Kempe, who was a member of the LordChamberlain’s Men with Shakespeare. The aim of this thesis is to identify the ways in whichShakespeare’s work was possibly inspired by commedia dell’arte. By using close reading and NewHistoricism and building on the work of Shakespeare scholars such as Kathleen Lea, Andrew Grewerand Robert Henke scholar, I investigate the performance conditions of Shakespeare’s texts, throughthe lens of Early Modern England looking at the various contemporary styles that Shakespeare drewon and argue that commedia was very much a part of the performance landscape at the time. I arguethat many elements of commedia can be seen throughout Shakespeare’s most famous plays and that itis likely that Will Kempe’s improvisational techniques were drawn from improvisational stageperformances by touring Italian troupes of the time.