Commedia dell'Arte

(16th-18th centuries) Italian theatrical comedy performed by masked characters who use recurrent characters and themes as a basis for an improvised plot and dialogue

Commedia dell'arte (Italian: "play of professional artists") was a popular form of improvisational theatre that began in Italy in the 15th century and maintained its popularity through to the 18th century, although it is still performed today. All of their performances were outside with few props, unscripted, and were free to watch, funded by donations. A troupe consisted of 10 people: 7 men and 3 women. Outside Italy, it was also known as "Italian Comedy".
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Noun
1. Italian comedy of the 16th to 18th centuries improvised from standardized situations and stock characters
(hypernym) comedy