Introduction
The public sphere as a theatrical arena of mocking contest: comedy, mask, laughter. The public and its masks: permanent hyper-critique and hypocritical performance
Nietzsche's intuitions: from theatre through humanist philology to Richard Wagner, or the genealogy of the modern world as stage
Ridiculing as public weapon
The rebirth of theatre as comedy out of the spirit of the Byzantium
The Byzantine spirit and its sources. Transmitting, receiving and nurturing the Byzantine spirit
The rise of theatre in Venice
The effect mechanism of Commedia dell'Arte: visions and realities of commedification
Commedia dell'Arte: schismogenic sub-plots and irresistible stock-types
Shakespeare: the tragedy of world history being a comedy
Representing representation: visionary images of Commedia dell'Arte
The rebirth of Commedia dell'Arte as the Avant-garde. The rebirth of Pierrot as suffering victim
Obsessed with Paris and public fame: Richard Wagner, the mimomaniac revolutionary
Pierrot and Pulcinella in between Paris and Petersburg: the Avant-Garde of Diaghilev and Meyerhold
Conclusion.