Carlo Goldoni

Who was Carlo Goldoni?

Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni was an Italian playwright and librettist from the Republic of Venice. His works include some of Italy's most famous and best-loved plays. Audiences have admired the plays of Goldoni for their ingenious mix of wit and honesty. His plays offered his contemporaries images of themselves, often dramatizing the lives, values, and conflicts of the emerging middle classes. Though he wrote in French and Italian, his plays make rich use of the Venetian language, regional vernacular, and colloquialisms. Goldoni also wrote under the pen name and title "Polisseno Fegeio, Pastor Arcade," which he claimed in his memoirs the "Arcadians of Rome" bestowed on him.

Goldoni, a prolific writer, is best known for his comic play Servant of Two Masters, which has been translated and adapted internationally numerous times. In 2011, Richard Bean adapted the play for the National Theatre of Great Britain, at the request of director Nicholas Hytner, as a vehicle for actor James Corden. The adaptation, One Man, Two Guvnors, became a smash hit, transferring to the West End and in 2012 to Broadway. In 2013, the National Theatre production will tour Australia in conjunction with several major organisations including Adelaide Festival and Melbourne Theatre Company.