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Details for The Fake Magician

Arlecchino with fake arrow

Il finto negromante

Very Brief Synopsis

This play is about two young couples that get pregnant, but the fathers don't see that, and refuse to let their daughters marry their loves. Several tricks lead them to change their minds just in time. This play includes a lot of jokes about bodily functions.

Number of players

Total Main Characters: 11

Men: 8
Women: 3
plus extras

Dramatis Personae

and Props and Sets


View List

Relationship Diagram

Includes characters named but not in the play


View Diagram

Link to Purchase

Electronic copy of this play


Link to Gum Road

Additional Notes

  • Images of Mercury from late Sixteenth Century Italy were of a boy wearing a winged hat, winged shoes, and a loincloth, and carrying a caduceus. Consider building a caduceus with wings big enough for modesty and have Franceschina hold it close to her chest for the whole scene.
  • More than most scenarios this scenario deals with bodily functions and effluent.
  • Capitano Spavento has very few scenes.
  • These events are happening during Carnival time, and they have been back in Rome for five or six months.
A scene from the Commedia dell’Arte played in France before a noble audience
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