Commedia Dell Arte Notes

• A model for improvisatory and movement oriented performance
• The act of putting on a mask and being in a mask equalizes everyone. It doesn't matter if you are a nobleman, a farmer, you are equal. 
• Masks as a way to understand oneself. 
• Commedia roots from the 16th century. Anyone who practiced Commedia was a master of improvisation in physical training. 
• One stock character per actor. They represent archetypes. Archetypes - elements of character that we are all able to resonate with, characters we universally share. 
• The plot is set, but the actors embellish these outlines with physical routines known as LAZZI - comedic interludes, can take place anywhere (Food, social class, sleep, trickery Lazzi. They're about real life, relatable things). 
• Jealous boyfriend
• Angry father
• Lovesick daughter.
• Build around these characters and add on to the story. 
• Virtuoso linguistic digressions (verbal riffs of standup comedians) -> "You know what I love about Pizza" 
• Going back to Actor centered theatre (acrobatics, body training, improvisation, ensemble, staging techniques). Actors have a street awareness and is able to work off audience and off each other - street psychology. 
• Through comedy, we can glimpse tragedy (Charlie Chaplin) - Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Marx brothers, Charlie Chaplin. 
• Driving force is not what to play but how it should be played. 

FOUR PRINCIPLES FOR COMMEDIA ACTORS: 

• Stillness (maintain emotion and intention in a pose) 
• Awareness of your partners on stage (listening) 
• Communication with the audience as individuals 
• Ability to express feelings and thought through body 

QUALITIES NECESSARY FOR COMMEDIA: 

• The willingness to work as a team 
• The gift of being able to seize the moment of opportunity in improvisation. 
• The ability to act with truth and sincerity (Grantham). 

• The mask must not be touched. It separates the actor from the character presented. 
• Scenes TO audience rather than with each other. Attention is directed at the spectators.
• Nose must be eyes of the mask. 

• Pantalone - Chicken - Suspicious of others - MONEY 



Pantalone

• He is a middle aged or elderly, rich man. He is avaricious. Lecherous. Gullible. 
• Overly protective father guarding his young daughter from suitors. 
• Dottore - Pig
• He is an elderly gentleman, sometimes friend or rival of Pantalone. Similar to, but different from Pantalone. 
• Arlecchino/Harlequin - monkey and cat - Mischievous and curious
• Usually clever persuaders and schemers; excellent at ad-libbing and acrobatics. 
• Agile in mind and body. 
• Opposite of Pantalone (too hungry, too tired, not too smart) 
• No consequences to his action. 
• Definitely a Zanni. 
• Zanni - group of birds/penguins/fish 
• Proto clowns, preverbal, like animals, always sleepy or Hungry.
• Food, sleep and sex. 
• Ignorant
• Living in the present
• Often servants of the masters
• Innamorati/Innamoratae - Oratio and Isabella - less creature like
• They do not wear masks. 
• Beautifully dressed young lovers; speak a refined language. Pretentious. 
• Lead with chest -> utilizes breath and points of lightness
• Always happy and infatuated with each other.
• No physical contact - reactions
• Very well read 
• Drama queen, spoiled, no patience
• Capitano - Peacock - bloodhound, mastiff
• A boastful, cowardly Spaniard who brags of battles never fought and remances never experienced.
• Braggart, bullheaded, stupid, loud, bombastic
• Scared of women to a sense
• Pulcinella 
• Humpbacked, doltish, male character.
• He is awkward. 
• Pretends to be stupid, but clever or vice versa
• Like to quarrel
• Pedrolino 
• A simple, OCD, effeminate, tense, excitable character. 
• Example, Devil Wears Prada - Stanley Tucci
• A dreamer
• Tragic > comic
• Faithful but lonely
• Scaramuccia
• A mustached servant; sometimes clever; sometimes cruel 
• Very expressive bodily and facially
• Senora - No mask 
• Bossy, bawdy, offers herself in exchange for anything. 
• High status, vain, proud, goes after men 
• Stuck in the past
• She's a cougar 
• Fontesca/Columbina/Clarice - Fox 
• She's a maid; a clever and high spirited flirt
• Corresponds with Arlecchino
• Ballet-like movement
• Carried a basket and sometimes a tambourine
• Scapino 
• Also a zanni
• Rascally; always running away; clumsy
• Falls in love very easily - for the fun of it. 
• Schemer 
• Forgetful
• Brighella 
• Cunning 
• Corrupt; runs by fear and manipulation
• Kind of like Pulcinella
• Never below
• Another zanni

WORKING WITH THE MASK

• Cheat up - face is up 
• Use the phsyical characteristics of your mask - if you have a big nose, do it like a rooster 
• Mask -> alive
• Don't touch the mask; keep your hands away from the mask
• Don't be subtle. 

LAZZI 

• Moments of humor grabbed between scenes/during scenes
• "Something foolish, witty, or metaphorical in word or action" 
• Stage tricks
• Comic stage business
• Comic routines, planned or unplanned that could be performened in any one of dozens of plays.