Commedia dell'arte

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Commedia dell'arte (Italian: "play of professional artists") was a popular form of improvisational theatre that began in Italy in the 16th century and maintained its popularity through 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 ten people: seven men and three women. Outside Italy it was also known as "Italian Comedy".

The Performances were based around a repertory of stock, conventional situations: adultery, jealousy, old age, love, some of which can be traced in the Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence, some of which are themselves translations of lost Greek comedies of the fourth century BC. The dialogue and action could easily be made topical and adjusted to satirize local scandals, current events, or regional tastes, mixed with ancient jokes and punch lines. Characters were identified by costume, masks, and even props, such as the slapstick. These characters included the ancestors of the modern clown. Previously rehearsed Lazzi and Concetti are other tools used by a commedia troupe.

The classic, traditional plot is that the innamorati are in love and wish to be married, but one vecchio (elder) or several elders, vecchi, are preventing this from happening, and so they must ask one or more zanni (eccentric servant) for help. Typically it ends happily with the marriage of the innamorati and forgiveness all around for any wrongdoings. There are countless variations on this story, as well as many that diverge completely from the structure, such as a well-known story about Arlecchino becoming mysteriously pregnant, or the Punch and Judy scenario.

The Characters

The characters of the Commedia dell'arte evolved and multiplied over time, through the unique influences of countries. The characters are split into categories: the zanni are the lower-class characters, the vecchi make up the upper-class, and the innamorati are the lovers. Here are a few examples of the characters:

• Arlecchino - also known as Harlequin, is a clown. Typically acrobatic and mischievous, he is one of the zanni. He is a servant, and is recognizable by the colorful diamond-shaped patches that traditionally were part of his costume. The part is sometimes substituted with Truffeldino, his son. However he is never the loser. His mask has a low forehead with a wart, and sometimes wore a black stocking wound round the lower face and then up over the head. Arlecchino is often the servant to Pantalone, or sometimes to Il Dottore. He is in love with Colombina, but she only makes fun of him. He can often have an intimate relationship with the audience, involving them in the action or gesturing to them.
• Il Capitano - swash-buckling and bold, but not necessarily heroic. Capitano generally wears the military dress of the period he is acting, everything foppish and overdone. Capitano is usually played as a braggart, a ladies-man, and a cavalier.
• Columbina - developed out of Arlecchino, and is his female counterpart. Usually portrayed as clever, crafty, and untamed. She is also a servant and a member of the zanni, and quite often she compels the action. She sometimes is played wearing colored patches in Arlecchino's style.
• Dottore - the doctor. Seen as the intellectual man, but generally that impression is false. He is older, wealthy, and a member of the vecchi. Often played as pedantic, miserly, and hopelessly unsuccessful with women.
• The Innamorati are the lovers. The innamorato and innamorata had many different names over time (Isabella was a particularly popular name as was Flavio, Isabella's male counter part, for the innamorata). They are young, virtuous, and helplessly in love with one another. They wear the most fashionable dress of the period they are acting, and never play in mask. Often seen singing, dancing, or reciting poetry. They are usually played as the children of Dottore and Pantalone depending on the situation they are in. They are madly in love but never seem able to get together.
• Pantalone - a member of the vecchi. Usually quite wealthy, but very greedy. He is the archetypal "old miser." He is concerned with nothing so much as money, and will do anything in order to obtain it. His costume includes red pants, and often a long beard.
• Pedrolino, also known as Pierrot or Pedro, is the loyal servant. He is hard, trustworthy, honest, and in every way devoted to his master. He is also charming and likable, and is portrayed wearing a floppy white outfit with a neck ruff.
• Pulcinella is sometimes called "Punch". He is the freak: pitiable, helpless, and often disfigured. He usually has a hump, a strong limp, or some other obvious physical deformity. In some portrayals he cannot speak, and expresses himself in squeaks or other strange sounds. His personality can be foolish or tricky and shrewd.
• Scaramuccia, also known as Scaramouche, is a roguish character who wears a black velvet mask and black trousers, shirt and hat. He is usually portrayed as a buffoon or boastful coward.
• Tartaglia, short sighted and with a terrible stutter, is usually classified as one of the group of old characters who appears in many scenarios as one of the lovers. His social status varies; he is sometimes a bailiff, lawyer, notary or chemist. It was dramatist Carlo Gozzi who turned him into a statesman and so he remained. Tartaglia wears a large felt hat, an enormous cloak, oversized boots, a long sword, a giant mustache and a cardboard nose.

References

Further reading

• Commedia dell'Arte: A Practical Handbook for the Actor by John Rudlin
• Playing Commedia and Commedia Plays'' by Barry Grantham
• The Comic Mask and the Commedia dell'Arte by Antonio Fava
• The Innamorati by Midori Snyder is a novel with the commedia as its central conceit.
• One version of The Love Of Three Oranges is subtitled "A Play for the Theater That Takes the Commedia Dell'arte of Carlo Gozzi and Updates it for the New Millennium". The authors are Carlo Gozzi and Hillary DePiano.
• Flamino Scala's Il Teatro delle Favole Rappresentative, translated into English by Henry F. Salerno as Scenarios of the Commedia dell'Arte.
• The Commedia dell'Arte by Kenneth Richards and Laura Richards is an overview of Commedia dell'arte. It provides many original documents in translation including scenarios, lazzi and descriptions of characters, players and companies by contemporaries.
• Martin Green and John Swan's The Triumph of Pierrot: The Commedia Dell'Arte and the Modern Imagination discusses interpretations and adaptations of commedia dell'arte in 20th century literature, music, art, and film.
• An annotated bibliography from Judith Chaffee

External links

• Screener for Commedia by Fava

Education Programs

• Naropa University Master of Fine Arts Lecoq Actor Based Theater

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Last updated on Saturday March 08, 2008 at 16:52:22 PST (GMT -0800)
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