The Pretenders - a prose comedy.
I Suppositi, or The Pretenders, was Ariosto's second play, the first performance taking place inside the ducal palace of Ferrara on 6 February 1509.
In the inaugural production, Ariosto performed his own prologue, which is to say, he himself acted as the author. The play was deemed particularly attractive for its reflection of the customs of Ferrara, thereby granting the desired realism, while the lovers kept up the sentiment, the crafty servant attempted some high-handed trickery before Fortuna took over, and the comic-mask characters maintained a patter of farcical talk and nonsense. Most impressively, in all these things Ariosto observed the unities, character types, and general spirit of the ancient Roman playwrights.