Commedia dell'arte
In addition to scripted comedies and tragedies, Parisians were also great fans of the Italian acting troupe who performed their Commedia dell'arte, a kind of improvised theatre based on types. The characters from the Commedia dell'arte would have a profound effect on French theatre, and one finds echoes of them in the braggarts, fools, lovers, old men and wily servants that populate French theatre.