摘要：The launch of a new journal on the commedia dell’arte, the first exclusively dedicated to this subject, marks an auspicious time to assess current scholarship in this exceptionally productive interdisciplinary field, and to introduce the new, exciting research findings here presented to the readers of Early Theatre. This introduction considers the five articles of this 'Issues in review', on 'The Commedia dell’arte: New Perspectives and New Documents', in the context of a review of current developments in commedia dell’arte studies, as reflected in key recent publications, and in particular, the 2008 first issue of the annual, peer-reviewed journal Commedia dell’arte, Annuario Internazionale .
