Classics

Clizia

By Machiavelli, Niccolò

Translated by Robert Cohen

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A rollicking, farcical comedy, Niccolò Machiavelli’s Clizia (1524) is an important step in theatre history. Based on Casina, by the Roman dramatist Plautus, Clizia is an example of the theatrical genre known as commedia erudita, a precursor to its famous successor, commedia dell’arte.

The story centers on old Nicomaco (a play on the author’s name), who has raised an adopted daughter from childhood and now in his dotage has fallen in love—or lust—with her. His son Cleandro also loves Clizia, who loves him in return. Father and son scheme to marry the girl off to favorite servants, who, it’s understood, will share her with their masters. Meanwhile, Sofronia—mater familias and the play’s moral center—sets in motion her own game of deception and trickery.

As in classical theatre, the play is divided into five acts, with all action taking place within a single day. The setting is a city street. Characters come and go from home to church to marketplace, telegraphing their intentions with direct asides to the audience and underscoring them with bawdy jokes and puns. Machiavelli has added a prologue, an epilogue, and songs to the classical format, but he has borrowed the traditional deus ex machina ending. Just when you think the lovers Cleandro and Clizia will be thwarted, as her unknown parentage precludes marriage, a gentleman from Naples appears on the scene and changes everything.

In this new translation, Robert Cohen has preserved the original’s idiomatic conversational style and energetic sound. By adding stage directions, he has produced a delightful, stage-ready script for this too-often overlooked play.

Category: Classics
ISBN (softcover): 978-1-935238-36-2
e-ISBN: 978-1-63464-034-3
Author: Machiavelli, Niccolò
Translator: Robert Cohen

"What a delight it is to read Robert Cohen's translation and adaptation of Clizia by Niccolò Machiavelli. This compact five-act piece leaps off the page with wit, verve, and really funny moments. It presents Machiavelli's early Commedia dell'Arte as it is was surely intended: replete with lively songs, direct addresses to the audience, ridiculous twists of fate, and those requisite bawdy situations. Actors will enjoy the challenges of presenting this set of ridiculous stock commedia characters. Directors will revel in the nonstop action, and the rich comedic opportunities for theatrical staging. From start to finish, Cohen is true to the form of Commedia and, at the same time, sensitive to the needs of a contemporary audience. This piece is tons of fun to read . . . and screams out to be staged."

— Eli Simon, Artistic Director, New Swan Shakespeare Festival, Chancellor's Professor of Acting, UC Irvine www.elisimon.com
“I was struck by the performative potential of this translation. It is not a line-by-line transposition from one language to another, but a Clizia that can be read, performed, and enjoyed today. It captures a specific visual, melodic, and theatrical universe; its text bubbling on the page with the dynamism Machiavelli intended. Its stage directions are a canovaccio, a door into improvisatory opportunities; its contemporary colloquialism bridges the gap between tradition and today's sensibilities. Bellissimo!!!!”

— Roberto Prestigiacomo, Professor of Human Communication and Theatre - Trinity University; Producing Artistic Director of AtticRep, San Antonio
“Professor Cohen’s rendering of Machiavelli’s Clizia is an erudite and informed translation, one that is both correct, fluent and idiomatic, and furnished with a first-rate introduction. Most important, Cohen wrote it to be performed. His is a first-rate piece of work which will delight Renaissance scholar, director and modern theater-goer.”

— James Chiampi, Professor of Italian, University of California, Irvine