Restoration comedies were born in 1660, when the theatres reopened after Puritan closing. This new type of comedy was called "Comedy of Manners" because of its exaggerations of the manners, modes and morals of Upper Classes.
The "Commedia dell'arte" was born in Italy in the XVI century and was very popular all around Europe. It was a different way of producing plays, based on the actors' skills of improvisation. In fact, actors didn't play following a script, but they improvised. They had fixed behaviours called "maschere" like "Arlecchino", the fool and cheater servant, "Colombina", the gossipy waitress.
Experimental theatre is a form of the "avant-garde", began in the 19th century in Western theatres, and developed as a rejection of the "traditional" ways of producing plays. The audience is important, because, for the first time, participates to the play.
