Gli spettatori competenti. Lettere sul teatro in Italia e in Europa fra Pietro e Alessandro Verri

The correspondence between Pietro Verri and Alessandro Verri is a well-known but neglected source in the performance studies. The essay wants to demonstrate that, in the letters dealing with theatrical performances and dramatic texts, both Pietro and Alessandro Verri are examples of a new culture of the spectator, which was rising during the XVIIIth century. This new culture is based on the idea that the spectator is technical, qualified, and aware of the connection of space, performer, dramatic text and audience. Alessandro writes accounts of performances, which had taken place in Paris, London and Rome: he appreciates the subtleness and concentration of the European audiences; on the stage he can see some of the most famous actors of the time such as Lekain, Dumesnil, Clairon and Garrick; he compares the shapes and the qualities of the theatres, and prefers the English ones relating to the acoustic and the visual output. Pietro Verri praises the French actors and focuses the attention on the action, as the central element for actors, singers and dancers in the play. He is influenced by the theatrical aesthetic of French Enlightenment, and particularly the one of Diderot and Voltaire. Alessandro Verri appreciates the French actors too, and in the amateurish performances made in Roman palaces, he experiments ways of acting inspired to the best European actors, and for the tragedies he experiments ways of acting modelled on painting and classical sculpture. Moreover, his letters offer many observations about the audience of public and private performances.