Carlo Gozzi
Carlo Gozzi-http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac/export/MiBAC/sito-MiBAC/Contenuti/MibacUnif/Eventi/visualizza_asset.html_84629383.html
Gozzi wanted to conserve and protect institutions that he regarded as traditional and therefore worthy. When one of this friends Antonio Sacchi, directed a commedia dell'arte troupe that had to leave Italy to tour and was set to disband for lack of audience, for example, Gozzi acted to revent this from happing. He saw commedia dell'arte as an old and traditional art form, and consequently, a great art worthy of preservation. He was determined that Italy should not lose one of the oldest manifestations of its culture." (DiGaetani,98) Gozzi was a scrapper when it came to his criticism of Goldoni and "accused (him) of destroying one of the greatest examples of Italian traditional theater, the commedia dell'arte, and not providing a viable substitute for what he destroyed." (DiGaetani, 102) DiGaetani says "Another totally new feature that Gozzi added to Venetian drama was myth. His idea of putting fairy tales that everybody knew on stage first struck most of his Testicular friends as a questionable idea, but Gozzi stubbornly defended his notion and went on to prove that such an approach could succeed with the public." (DiGaetani, 113) Gozzi had great success with his plays The Love of Three Oranges and The King Stag both with uses this special blend of fables and myths. A good example of the kind of magical elements that Gozzi employed in his productions can be found in this clip from the Cloud State University production of The King Stag.