On Bad Commedia Troupes:

When these companies come to a town immediately to the sound of a drum the announcement is made that my lords the players have arrived; the actress, dressed as a man, ith sword in hand, goes off to beat up a muster. The citizens are asked to attend a comedy, a tragedy, or a pastoral in the palace, or in the Pilgrim's Inn, where the mob, naturally curious and eager for novelties, immediately hurries to secure seats, and, buying their tickets, the spectators enter the hall. Here one finds a trestle stage, scenery scrawled out with charcoal in the vilest taste; one listens to an overature of braying asses and buzzing bees; one hears a prologue fit for nothing; a stupid tune like brother stopino's; wearisome acts dull as ditchwater; intermedi bad enough to send the actors to the gallows; a Magnifico (Pantalone) not worth a farthing; a Zanni no better than a goose; a Graziano (Dottore) who mumbles his words; a Courtesan stupid and mawkish; a Lover who torments his arms at every speach; a Spaniard (Capitano) who does not know what to say except mi vida and mi corazon; a pedant who plunges into Tuscan at every moment; a Burattino who has no other gesture but that of putting his hat on his head; a Signora with a voice like a ghost's, with the speach of the dead, the gestures of a sleepwalker, one who show eternal enmity to the Graces and has a permanent quarrel with beauty.

T. Garzoni, La Piazza Universale di tutte professioni (Venizia 1585)