The dinner on Saturday 14 is themed: Black Tie with a Commedia dell’arte Flourish.

Commedia dell’arte is a theatrical form characterized by improvised dialogue and a cast of colorful stock characters that emerged in northern Italy in the fifteenth century.

In its golden age, plays of the commedia dell’arte (literally, “comedy of professional artists”) were usually performed in open air by itinerant troupes of players. Performances were based on a set schema, or scenario—a basic plot, often a familiar story, upon which the actors improvised their dialogue. Thus actors were at liberty to tailor a performance to their audience, allowing for sly commentary on current politics and bawdy humor that would otherwise be censored.

Each stock character of the commedia evolved a distinct set of attributes—characteristic speech, gestures, props, and costume—that became standard to the portrayal of the character. All characters except Pedrolino and the innamorati wore masks, a tradition deriving from ancient Roman comedies. Because the mask partially or entirely obscured facial expression, emphasis was placed on dialect and exaggerated gesture to convey emotion and intention.