Commedia Dell'arte

Moliere began his theatrical career with Commedia Dell'arte. Despite the introduction of naturalism since then, we as a company decided Commedia was something we should all know about, as it may inform the character development. But Commedia is something that you have to study for years, go to Italy and train under a master, before you can really be an expert. However you can understand the basic principles so lets break it down...

 Who were they?

Commedia dell'arte is known as "Actor's theatre" because of its organisation. The actors were the authors, the editors, the directors, the producers - you name it, they were it.They worked in troops together touring Europe.

The nature of the companies and the physical style also meant that people of different nationalities could work easily together AND that audiences of different nationalities could understand the same show. It created a universal format of performance e.g you would always know that the fat doctor would waffle on and argue with pantalone

Finally, the troops were run democratically. Everyone got paid and WOMEN WERE SEEN AS EQUAL!!!

Where was this happening?

Commedia dell'arte, like most cool stuff at that time in Europe, was founded in Italy. Venice to be precise. Hence you can see the masks with the big noses at the parties there.

Venice was a hive of cultural activity and thinking at the time.

When was this happening?

Commedia dell'arte began in the 1600's (or the seventeenth century).

However it's been used explicitly or inadvertently since then. It was the founding for a lot of Western theatre. The most recent and famous example of the style would be 'One man Two Governors' that was on the West End

So.... What is it?

Style:

Commedia dell'arte is a style of predominantly physical theatre.

It was a marriage of the literary style of the time and street performers. "It had one foot in the palace, and one on the street."

Key to the style is the audience. They were essential to the jokes by nature of sharing them with the actors. You had to understand them and their needs and they absolutely had to understand you and yours.

Masters and servants. A huge amount of the humour comes from the relationship between a master and their servant, whether that servant be inadequate and screws up all the time or whether the servant is actually more intelligent than the master.

Commedia dell'arte works on the 7 universal emotions: joy, grief, fear, anger, surprise, love, laughter

These emotions were conveyed through emotive language. No words were actually spoken only gobbledygook that sounded like the emotion they wanted to convey (this is what made it universally understandable and so physically dominant) 

This however didn't go down so well. The church considered the actions of the actors as unholy and even thought they were speaking in the devil's tongue. So actors at this time were condemned. Lest we forget Moliere was buried outside of the city walls. 

LAZZI:

Lazzi are essentially "gags" or stock jokes which can be added into a commedia dell'arte play or

performance in order to ensure the comic action keeps pace. Traditionally the writers and actors in a

troupe would have lazzi memorized so that they could insert them where needed.

Some examples are:

Lazzi 1: The lazzi of Mimicking

This involves "taking the mickey" out of a character by exaggerating their walk, gesture, facial expression and way of speaking. Sometimes the character who is being ridiculed is unaware of what is happening.

Lazzi 2: The lazzi of "Here, here, then here"

During the course of the scene, when a question is asked the reply is a deliberately too-literal but comic response. So, for example, when a question like "where have you been?" is asked, the reply might be "I was here" (pointing at the spot where the character had been standing a moment before). When asked"and before that?" the reply might be "before that I was here" (pointing a foot or so away from where he was previously) Young children, in particular, love the silliness and absurdity of this type of lazzi.

STORY

The stories were flexible and roughly improvised. You would have points that you'd absolutely hit i.e. the daughter of the doctor being given her hand in marriage to pantalone, whom she doesn't love because he's gross and she's in love with her lover anyway.

No scene would last longer than three minutes, so the pace was up and the energy huge.

Lazzi is a fun phenomenon that is basically physical comedy, it would interrupt the direct plot and detract from it for a little bit before returning it back on course afterwards. 

Characters:

Pantalone - [moves with a bent back] Rat-like in they're quality. They are a merchant, usually a miserly old man, they're mean and they've got a lot of needs.They have the sensation of vinegar. Think Scrooge, Fagin or Mr burns

The doctor - [ moves from his big belly] They are a person of learning, they know everything about everything but understands nothing. Because they are so eihed down by their immense intelligence they tend to waffles on and on.

Brighella - [ moves with closed hips] She is the cunning servant, she's a brain character, master of servants but servant of masters. (Basil Fawlty would be an example) They can be a womanizer, and they always think ahead, what's in it for them?

Harlequino - [ moves with open hips] Monkey-like. They are the stupid servant ( they don't use logic) They are a  body character, being intuitive and happy-go-lucky. They think they're gorgeous, they're acrobatic, cheeky, playful and always hungry (Artful dodger )

Columbina - Another servant. They are as cunning as Brighella, as playful as Harlequino, can hold an academic discourse on everything like the doctor and are as good with money as Pantalone.  They are the linchpin, always helping the story and the other characters along.

First actor and actresses - [move from their shoulders] These guys don't wear masks. They're serious, dangerous lovers. They are members of the court of Magnifico, in the world of the borgias and medicis.

Second actor and actresses - These two are the young lovers. They have a fantastic education and everything they need to move up in the world to the level of the aristocrats. They are moving into the world of the grown-ups but are still generally immature.

Witch - This is a 20th century invention, she represents the Magnifico of the countryside.

Captain - [ moves from his knees] The captain is a mercenary soldier, he's full of swagger but in reality is a complete coward and will do anything to avoid a fight.Magnifico - [moves from his head] They are an eagle-like being, they looks down on everything and everyone. They have huge power and are the leader of the city and they absolutely behave like it.

Zanni - [moves from his long nose and feet] They are the pigeon to Magnifico's eagle. Zanni is a peasant whose come to the city for work, everything is extraordinary to him. It makes him extremely curious and enthusiastic because he wants to please and he wants to work (Manuel in fawlty towers is always cited as a good example) Zanni is the servant to Magnifico. Zanni is supposed to come across as stupid.

So...

Now most of the basics are covered, the actors had a workshop on the first day of full time rehearsals, on Commedia Dell'arte with Didi Hopkins. She has used her expert knowledge on Commedia on shows such as one man two governors at the national. She has lots of useful videos on you tube explaining Commedia in more depth. Here are some clips of that workshop...