Monday, 1 April 2013

Commedia Del'arte


  • Everybody was on the same level, when behind 'the mask'
  • "Give a hypocrite a mask to wear, and he will be rendered incapable of further lying"
  • 16th century
  • masters of improvisation rooted in physical training
  • One stock character per actor (archetypes)
  • improvise around scenarios embellis basic plot outlines with physical routine known as LAZZI
  • Virutoso linguistic digressions (verbal riffs of standup comedians)
  • "A model for improvisatory and movement orientated performance."
  • Actor centered theatre (acrobatics, body training, improvisation ensemble, and staging techniques)
  • Street psychology
  • Through comedy, we can glimpse tragedy (Charlie Chaplin)
  • buster keaton, laurel and hardy, marx brothers
  • Le jeu of Lecoq
  • Driving force is not what to play but how it should be played.

  • Four principles for commedia actors
    • stillness 
    • awareness
    • communication with the audeince
    • ability to express feelings and thought through body
  • Never touch the mask
    • makes it look unreal
    • Present an illusion
  • Qualities of Commedia Del'arte
    • Willingness to work as a team
    • seize the moment of opportunity
    • ability to act with truth and sincerity  Grantham
  • Pantalone
    • middle aged man
    • greedy
    • miserly/protective of money
    • husband deceived from a young wife
    • competes with his son
    • overly protective father guarding his young daughter from suitors
    • like a chicken
  • Dottore - pig
    • elderly gentleman
    • law professor
    • sometimes a rival with pantalone
    • lacks common sense
    • good with double talk and jargon
    • stutterer like priest in princess bride
    • thinks out loud
    • big
    • studies a lot yet knows so little
  • Arlecchino/Harlequin
    • clever
    • perceiver
    • illiterate
    • good schemer
    • he is a Zanni
    • curious of things
    • agile
    • stupid but has grace
    • not really evil, but mischievous
    • shape shifter
    • never thinks about consequences
  • Zanni
    • proto clowns
    • like animals
    • always sleepy or hungry
    • pre verbal
  • Innamorati/innamoratae
    • less creature-like
    • beautifully dressed young lovers
    • speak refined language
    • no mask/ lead with chest, parody of ballet, use breath and points of lightness
    • always in-love
    • high status
  • Capitano
    • peacock
    • bloodhound/mastiff
    • boastful, woardly spaniard who brags of battles he never fought
  • Pulcinella
    • hump-backed
    • doltish male character
  • Pedrolino
    • 'perrot'
    • awkward
    • simple
    • tense
    • effeminate
    • devil wears prada stanley tucci
    • cuckolded
  • Scaramuccia
    • mustached servant
    • sometimes clever
    • sometimes cruel
  • Senora - no mask
    • bossy
    • bawdy
    • offers herself in exchange for money/high status
    • vain
    • proud
    • goes after men
    • forever 29 years old
  • Fontesca/columbina/clarice-fox
    • serving maid
    • clever
    • high spirited flirt
    • often moving
    • maid of the innamoratae
    • corresponded with alecchino
    • ballet-like movement
    • carried a basket and sometimes a tambourine
  • Working with the mask
    • cheat up (put head up)
    • use physical characteristics of the mask
      • (if you have a big nose do it with a lot of rooster)
    • make the mask come alive
    • don't touch the mask
    • highlights the fact that it is not real
    • don't be subtle
  • Scapino
    • rasclaly
    • confused by everything
    • falls in love for the fun of it
    • flippant about love
    • never deeply evolved
    • obeys every impulse that he feels
    • forgets a lot
    • has a hate towards men
  • Barghella
    • cunning
    • corrupt
    • fear/maniupulation
    • knows weak points
    • exploits
    • never a victim
    • like a boss of the Zanni
  • Lazzi
    • conversations
    • little comic interludes
    • moments of humor grabbed between scenes/during scenes
    • something foolish/witty/metaphorical in word or action
    • stage tricks
    • comic stage business
    • comic routines planned or unplanned that could be performed in any one of dozens on plays.

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