Commedia%20dell%20Arte

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Commedia dell Arte
Power Point by Amity Ecker Grossmont High School
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Origin of Commedia dell Arte

• Emerged in Tuscany, Italy around 1550.
• Began in the Renaissance (rebirth) as a result
  of a rise in the middle class (merchants,
  scientists, artists, educated)
• Theatre moved away from religious
  morality/passion plays
• Art became more realistic, a move away from
  religious art, a focus on humans rather than
  gods. Secular.

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Origin of Commedia dell Arte

• Roots founded in the comedies of ancient Rome
• Masked characters
• Stock characters
• Presented in the homes of wealthy patrons or town
  squares
• Preordained situations about jealousy, adultery,
  old age, love
• Sometimes satirized local scandals or current
  events

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Commedia dell Arte

• Characters were identified by costumes, masks,
  and/or props
• Performances spread throughout Europe during 16th
  and 17th centuries to Spain, France, and England
• Evolved in 18th century into vaudeville and
  influenced animated cartoons, situation comedy,
  and modern day improvisation

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Commedia dell Arte

• Male comedic characters masked, female characters
  and lovers not masked
• Del Arte company consisted of 10-12 traveling
  players. Each assigned a stock part.
• Versimilitude true to life
• unity of TIME, PLACE, ACTION
• The plays are called Canovacci

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Commedia dell Arte Characters

• Arlecchino
• Spoke directly to audience
• Acrobatic
• Used slapstick wooden stick
• Wears diamond print mask costume

• Brighella
• Will do anything for money
• Musician
• the boss of Zanni/Arlecchino. Usually a
  proprietor of a shop, he is never wealthy but is
  better off than the others. He offers, and is
  asked to give advice to The Lovers.

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• Zanni Male Servants (orig. zany)
• Zanni is the lowest on the social ladder. He is
  the poorest, stupidest, and hungriest servant. He
  never does a good job. Sleeping on the job,
  sneaking off to eat food, or daydreaming. His
  daydreams are called lazzi.
• Zanni carries the plot along and confuses it. His
  attempts to complete a task lead to something
  going awry.

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Commedia dell Arte Characters

• Il Dottore friend of Pantalone, a quack,
  pompous, fraudulent, overweight, a drinker
• His stomach is the focus of attention
• Believes he is the expert on everything

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Commedia dell Arte Characters

• Il Capitano (The Captain)an arrogant, egocentric
  man feigning machismo.
• He is, in fact, a timid coward afraid of most
  everything.
• He probably is not a Captain in an army, but
  because he moves around from city to city, he is
  able to pretend he has higher status than he
  really should.
• Il Capitano is feared by the townspeople only
  because he puts on a convincing show of
  intimidation.

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Commedia dell Arte Characters

• Pantalone a rich, old, miserly merchant, with a
  young wife or adventurous daughter
• Deathly afraid of losing his money

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Commedia dell Arte Characters

• The Lovers are high status. They are the sons and
  daughters of the old men characters with high
  social status. The Lovers' status rating is
  diminished, however, because of their infatuated
  states.
• The Lovers are costumed in the latest fashion.
  The Lovers are rich so they wear the most ornate
  and expensive styles.
• The Lovers do not wear masks instead, they wear
  makeup.

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Commedia dell Arte Characters

• La Ruffiana mother or gossipy townswoman who
  intrudes on lives of lovers