âGrounded in a thorough mastery of scholarly literature on eighteenth-century French theatre, McMahanâs study ingeniously interprets Luigi Riccoboni and his troupe as theatrical migrants who used comedy as a means of cultural diplomacy. . . McMahanâs innovative approach to
commedia dellâarte as a âtransnational brandâ offers a robust contribution to Theatre and Performance Studies scholarship.â (âDaniel Smith, Michigan State University, USA)
âIn bringing to the attention of an Anglophone audience a neglected theatrical figure, McMahan performs his own act of translational border crossing, which is revealing not just about its subject, but also about the value of critical work that itself moves fruitfully across all sorts of national, disciplinary, and temporal borders.â (âJessica Goodman, St. Catherineâs College, Oxford, UK)