The Glorious Ones

Set in 17th-century Italy, The Glorious Ones concerns a theatre group in the world of commedia dell’arte and theatre of the Italian Renaissance. It’s a sung valentine to the actor’s life, with its joys, hardships and sorrows, set during a period when the comic theatre was beginning to shed its vulgar roots and evolve toward a greater refinement.

The Glorious Ones travel the length and breadth of Italy, playing commedia dell’arte in the streets and palaces with equal vigour. Founded by the ingenious madman Flaminia Scala, the small company of players endures passionate affairs, riots, disgrace – all manner of triumph and hardship. Pantalone the miser, sunny Armanda the dwarf and gossip loving Columbina view their myriad shared adventures through markedly different eyes. Yet not one of them is prepared for the strange twisting of the road brought about by the mysterious arrival of Isabella Andreini, who is about to change their wayward troupe