Commedia dell'arte

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Commedia dell'Arte troupe Gelosi in a late 16th-century Flemish painting (Musée Carnavalet, Paris)

Commedia dell'Arte (Italian: of art (of improvisation)") is a form of improvisational theatre that began in Italy in the 16th century and held its popularity through the 18th century, although it is still performed today.[1] Performances were unscripted, held outside, and used few props. They were free to watch, funded by donations. A Band consisted of ten people. Outside Italy the form was also known as "Italian Comedy".

Commedia Dell'Arte has received a great deal of interest from several 20th century theatre practitioners,including Jacques Copeau, Meyerhold, Jacques Lecoq and others, because of their wish to move away from naturalism.[2]

Conventional plot lines were written on themes of adultery, jealousy, old age, and love. Many of the basic plot elements can be traced back to the Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence, some of which were themselves translations of lost Greek comedies of the fourth century BC. Performers made use of well-rehearsed jokes and stock physical gags, known as Lazzi and Concetti, as well as, of course, on-the-spot improvised and interpolated episodes and routines, called burle (singular burla, Italian for joke), usually involving a practical joke. Since the productions were improvised, dialogue and action could easily be changed to satirize local scandals, current events, or regional tastes, while still using old jokes and punch lines. Characters were identified by costumes, masks, and even props, such as a type of baton known as a slapstick. These characters included the forebears of the modern clown, namely Harlequin (English for arlecchino) and Zanni.

The classic, traditional plot is that the innamorati are in love and wish to be married, but one elder (vecchio) or several elders (vecchi) are preventing this from happening, leading the lovers to ask one or more zanni (eccentric servants) for help. Typically the story ends happily, with the marriage of the innamorati and forgiveness for any wrongdoings. There are countless variations on this story, as well as many that diverge wholly from the structure, such as a well-known story about Arlecchino becoming mysteriously pregnant, or the Punch and Judy scenario.

Karel Dujardins set his closely-observed scene of a traveling troupe's makeshift stage against idealized ruins in the Roman Campagna: dated 1657 (Louvre Museum)

Some theatre critics believe, however, that commedia may even date back to around 200 AD, amongst the Romans. It is thought they used commedia techniques in theatre at the time, along with some of the characters below, although they had different names. For example, the Romans had a character called Homerus who wore a military uniform and appeared to be brave, although when it came to battle, he was always the first to flee. These are much the same characteristics as the more modern 'Il Capitano'. It is quite possible that this kind of improvised acting was passed down the Italian generations until the 1600s, when it was revived as a professional theatrical technique again.

[edit] Notes

[edit] Further reading

  • The Strange Illness, by Rita Crump. Amazon.com, Players Press, Studio City CA Media:www.ppeps.com
  • Commedia Dell'arte: An Actor's Handbook by John Rudlin
  • Playing Commedia and Commedia Plays by Barry Grantham
  • The Comic Mask and the Commedia dell'Arte by Antonio Fava
  • The Innamorati by Midori Snyder is a novel with the commedia as its central conceit.
  • One version of The Love Of Three Oranges is subtitled "A Play for the Theater That Takes the Commedia Dell'Arte of Carlo Gozzi and Updates it for the New Millennium". The authors are Carlo Gozzi and Hillary DePiano.
  • Flamino Scala's Il Teatro delle Favole Rappresentative, translated into English by Henry F. Salerno as Scenarios of the Commedia dell'Arte.
  • The Commedia dell'Arte by Kenneth Richards and Laura Richards is an overview of Commedia dell'Arte. It provides many original documents in translation including scenarios, lazzi and descriptions of characters, players and companies by contemporaries.
  • Martin Green and John Swan's The Triumph of Pierrot: The Commedia Dell'Arte and the Modern Imagination discusses interpretations and adaptations of Commedia dell'Arte in 20th century literature, music, art, and film.
  • An annotated bibliography from Judith Chaffee.
  • Commedia dell'Arte: A Handbook for Troupes by Olly Crick and John Rudlin
  • Screener for Commedia by Fava
  • Description of Commedia Dell'arte

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