Theatre History Commedia Dell

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Theatre HistoryCommedia Dellarte
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Commedia dellarte

• In Italy during the 16th century, a new type of
  comedy drama was developing. It gained immense
  popularity and is still enjoyed today.
• Commedia dellarte translates to comedy of
  professional players.

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• There were many commedia dellarte companies and
  they toured all over Europe and England.
• Commedia dellarte featured a very unique style
  of drama, often performed by family groups of
  actors.

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Origins of Commedia dellarte

• Commedia was derived from the classical Roman
  comedy farce and other Roman plays.
• It also relied on the skills of travelling
  players such as acrobatics and physical feats
• Commedia dellarte was widely popular, fun and
  spontaneous

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Commedia Scenarios

• There were no long, printed commedia plays
  because it was improvised drama.
• Instead there were standard characters and brief
  scenarios.
• It was up to the actors to improvise, and make up
  the story and dialogue as they went along.

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The Stories

• Story lines usually involved
• Loves
• Lies
• Deceit
• Disguises
• Betrayal
• Conflict

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Physical Theatre

• Because all performances were improvised there
  were an infinite number of interpretations of the
  chosen scenarios
• Great physical skill and skills in improvisation
  were required to create these enjoyable and very
  energetic performances.
• Women as well as men acted in these performances

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Performance Venues

• Until the 17th and 18th centuries commedia was
  not performed in purpose built theatres
• Plays were held in many different settings,
  mostly outdoors in streets and markets on
  makeshift stages, or even without a stage in just
  a cleared space.

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Characters of Commedia

• Often an actor would play a character for life,
  especially one of the old men characters
• Young actors tended to play the roles of The
  Lovers
• Commedia troupes were usually made up of family
  members
• This was actor based theatre so it required
  everyone to work together cooperatively
• Actors needed to know their characters extremely
  well so they could portray them in any improvised
  situation

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• Commedia dellarte consisted of a set of stock
  characters
• Masks and costumes were worn by the characters,
  except The Lovers who were usually the centre
  of the performance

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The Stock Characters

• The Lovers
• Masters/Old Men
• Zanni (The Servants)

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The Lovers/Inamorati

• The scene usually revolved around the young
  lovers who were always attractive and young
• The audience was encouraged to be on their side
  in their fight against those who opposed their
  relationships
• These love affairs were often opposed by either
  fathers or servants

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The Masters/Old Men

• Usually doctors or lawyers
• Their role was to stop the lovers getting
  together
• Pantalone and Il Dottore were the most popular of
  these characters
• These characters were targets of satire
• Audiences were encouraged to laugh at them
  pretending to be so clever, but really they were
  pretty stupid

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Pantalone

• A wealthy merchant
• A miser with his money
• Fiery and impulsive
• Sneaky and hypocritical
• Tries to prevent his young daughter from marrying
  someone who is lower class
• His mask reflects his mean, angry and ugly
  character

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Pantalone mask costume
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Il Dottore

• The Doctor, but not necessarily a medical doctor,
  just a highly educated man
• Constantly bragging about his intelligence
• Showing off
• Lecturing the other characters and/or the
  audience
• His lecturing may be in gibberish and rarely
  makes sense
• His mask featured a heavy, serious face,
  sometimes made to look like he drinks too much

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Il Dottore mask costume
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Zanni (The Servants)

• Servants were constantly fighting with their
  masters, emphasising the difference in social
  classes
• These fights and misunderstanding were always
  comical
• Stories were usually seen through the eyes of the
  Zanni
• Unlike the Old Men, they were not made fun of or
  satirised

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Arlecchino

• One of the most famous zanni characters
• (Note the closeness of the words zanni and
  zany.)
• He was dressed in bright patchwork clothes
• The origin of this character was probably that of
  the fool or jester of medieval times

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Arlecchino mask costume
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• Arlecchino was often hungry
• He would get into hilarious messes that he had to
  try and get out of
• Acrobatics and physical feats were a very
  important feature of this character
• His character is open and optimistic
• His mask is open and mischievous

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Brighella

• Also a zanni/servant
• Very different to Arlecchino
• Untrusting
• Sneaky
• Cruel
• Starts fights and problems
• Brighellas mask is rough and ugly

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Brighella mask costume
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Columbina

• The main female servant
• A friendly but firm character
• Columbina and Arlecchino were often lovers,
  though usually there were complications in their
  relationship

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Columbina - costume
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• Females did not wear masks in commedia to make
  them more beautiful and keep audiences more
  interested

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Lazzi

• Lazzi were comic interludes or skits within the
  play
• Lazzi required great physical skills and
  flexibility
• Lazzi often involved set performances which were
  inserted into the improvised performance
• Lazzi could be used in a flat spot in the
  performance or to create a turning point in the
  storyline

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Set Speeches

• Some actors would learn long speeches which could
  be inserted into the improvised performance when
  appropriate maybe a speech about love, hate,
  jealousy, marriage, etc.

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History

• Commedia Dellarte reached its peak between 1575
  and 1650 but it was still popular for a further
  100 years before it began to lose favour
• Many of its traditions were passed on,
  influencing acting styles and characters in later
  performances.

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