Dal 'divertissement forain' all''ambigu-comique': l'arte di frantumare e di combinare

Theatrical text is characterized by an essential incompleteness and un-stableness, as genetic criticism unquestionably shows. Set between the dimensions of written memory and of scenic realization, its life is in direct relation to its receiver, the public; which helps it to adopt new forms and, sometimes, different meanings. There can be a programmatic incompleteness, which founds the creative process upon the mobility of the text. This happened, for instance, in the French theatres of the Fairs during the first half of the XVIII century. As an example, this article examines Fair genres founded on the mobility of the text (divertissement, pantomime, ambigu), and their development from the beginning of the XVIII century until the French Revolution. The technique utilized in these types of performances was the collage of materials established beforehand. The contamination not only of the texts but also of models and styles in the French theatrical practice at the Fairs was the basis of a vital process of re-creation and new creation.