Konstantin miklashevsky as a comedy dell’arte follower

In this article described the attitude of Russian playwright and theater historian, K. M. Miklashevsky (1886–1943) toward Commedia dell’arte. In his study of “La commedia dell’arte or The theatre of Italian comedians of XVI, XVII and XVIII centuries” he distinguished the true Italian commedia dell’arte from its distorted French version and pointed out his reasons to prefer the K. Gozzi’s school over the K. Goldoni’s one. In his play “Four Heartthrobs”, Miklashevsky incarnated the aesthetic principles and stage positions of the classical commedia dell'arte (typical masks, slapstick, using the topical themes, direct contact with the audience).