‘You did well, my bird,’ he said, then held up a hand to silence any further discussion. He winked at her and shooed her away. ‘On with your tasks. The show must go on.’
On their second day in Clusone, the crowds were even larger and the takings were rich. Though Mina scanned the crowd, there was no sign of Rico or Katriela’s brother. The troupe spent their second evening in Clusone discussing canovaccio, the one-act scenarios that would be all they had time to perform at the Festival of Lights.
Uberto had the players perform some of their stock speeches, or concetti, and rehearse some lazzi, the physical pratfalls that were central to the servants’ comedy. Mina began to realise that though much of what they did onstage was improvised, the players had a repertoire of actions and words th
