The Suppositi

The second of Ariosto’s plays in prose, it was staged in Ferrara during carnival in 1509. A second pirate edition was put together shortly after on the basis of copies given to the actors.  A new edition, that can be better trusted, was published in 1524, in Rome, but it carries no indication as to who printed it. The 1524 edition is modelled on the ten XVI century reprints of the comedy. This 1524 reprint was probably tied to the famous staging of the play in Rome, wanted by Cardinal Innocenzo Cybo, and which took place on 6 March 1519 (carnival Sunday), in the presence of Pope Leo X, numerous ambassadors, prelates and common folk, inside the Vatican palaces. The (highly prestigious) backcloth for this staging of the play was a view of the city of Ferrara painted by Raffaello Sanzio. It is not known for sure whether this Roman staging was the version in prose, as it had been conceived in 1509, or a version in verse. For sure Leo X was absolutely enthusiastic about it and expressed strong interest in seeing more of Ariosto’s plays. The plot for the Suppositi (the title of which indicates ‘the exchanged’), explicitly modelled upon Terence’s Eunuch and Plautus’ Captivi  , is decidedly more substantial if compared with the Cassaria. It is less centred upon play and more on fabula. At the heart of the story is the swop in identity between the young Erostrato, a student in Ferrara, in love with Polinesta, and the servant Dulippo, who takes on his master’s name, whilst Erostrato manages to have himself hired as a servant in the household of his beloved’s father, thus achieving intimacy with her. After a number of false pretences and misunderstandings, after having overcome a series of adversities that look like they are going to end in tragedy, the play ends on a happy note with the marriage of Polinesta to Erostrato. The fact that the play was set in Ferrara reinforced the participation of the audience of that town, who could recognise precise ‘real life’ situations brought on stage.