Transcript Commedia Del Arte

Commedia Del Arte
An Overview
What it is
 Commedia Del Arte means comedy done by
professionals
 Developed first in Italy during the late 15th
Century to enact popular folk tales through
improvisation.
 Traveled and became popular throughout all of
Europe by early 16th Century.
 Professional actors would play a stock character
for many years and companies were formed that
would tour the countryside
More History
 Groups would tour to trade fairs called
Carnivals and “Lazzi” or comic bits would
be performed within the stories they acted.
 If the audience didn’t understand the
language, the actors would mime, juggle,
or tumble and do more physical “Lazzi.”
 The Commedia tradition lasted through the
early 19th Century when Gypsy bands
would travel around the Slavic countries
Even More History
 The Commedia tradition led to burlesque the
Vaudevillian theatre of the Jewish population in
Russia, Germany and other countries and
immigrated to America through this culture.
 Early film employed Commedia technique in the
work or Charley Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold
Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy as well as the Marx
Brothers comedy style.
Still even more
 Television employed stock characters in
the development of situation comedies
and cartoon shows…all branches of the
Commedia tradition of stock characters in
new situations but with predictable
behaviors and characters the audience
knows and relates to.
The Mask
 Not all characters in
Commedia wore
masks but all
characters presented
were said to portray
“a mask” or an
artificial face. The
main comic
characters wore half
face masks made of
leather.
Arlequino or Haalrquin
The Stock Characters
 The Zanni - Peasant or slave. Comic underling.
 Arlecchino- Has an enduring magical power
and is a servant to Pantalone- wore odd
shaped patches. Source of Harlequin.
Acrobat, prankster,agile
 Brighella- Kind of the boss of the other
servants. Might be a sergeant or other midlevel boss type (Moe in the 3 stooges or
Groucho in Marx Bros)
thief and bully
The Old Men
 The Old Men: The old men were wealthy
and lusted after young women but were
usually fooled or made a fool of in the end.
 Pantalone- Very wealthy, old and in charge
but foolish.
 Il Dottore- Bachelor or widower. When he
does marry he is cuckholded. Often the
father to one of the lovers. Friend to
Pantalone, absent minded and full of jargon
and double talk.
Still more characters
 Il Capitano- Self appointed captain and
braggart who in the face of real danger is
a complete coward. Brags about female
conquests he’s never had
 Colombina - a female Zanni- A spirited,
clever, flirt. A servant usually to Pantalone
and usually assists the lovers in their
quest to get together. Companion to
Arlecchino.
Il Capitano and Isabella
More Characters
 The Lovers: Young Male (inammorati) and Female
lead (Innamortae)who’s love is blocked by the
circumstances of the story.
 Isabella - One of the most popular female forms
of the lover who was kind of a primadonna, stuck
up and openly flirtatious
 Il Cavaliere - Young male who was a soldier and
attractive to women for his virility. But he was very
unfaithful in his love.
Pantalone and Il Dotore
More still
 Pedrolino - The youngest son in a family..the
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butt of jokes, a hunchback.
Pulcinella- Means little chicken and that’s kind
of what he was.
Scapino - a lead Zanni, played multiple
instruments or very accrobatic. Crafty but
cowardly
Scaramuccia - Means little fighter. He was a
servant to a poor gentleman. Large mustache.
Tartaglia - a stammerer or stutterer, frequently a
lawyer
Il Capitano and Scaramouche
Zanni Masks
Pulcinnella and Brighella
The Lovers
Columbine and Isabella
Commedia Assignment
 In Breakfast Club groups you will create a short
scenario using the “Simpson’s” or “I Love Lucy”
television show characters as your stock
characters.
 Create a 3 to 5 minute skit playing the
characters in the scenario.
 Create Lazzi (comedy bits) inside the scenario.
 This is not a script and should be improvised
from the plan.