Commedia dell'arte

"Commedia" redirects here. For Dante's famous epic poem, see The Divine Comedy.

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

Commedia dell'arte (Italian: "play of professional artists") was a popular form of improvisational theatre that began in Italy in the 16th century and maintained its popularity through the 18th century, although it is still performed today. All of their performances were outside with few props, unscripted, and were free to watch, funded by donations. A troupe consisted of ten people: seven men and three women. Outside Italy, it was also known as "Italian Comedy".

Performances were based around a repertory of stock, conventional situations: adultery, jealousy, old age, love, some of which can be traced in the Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence, which are themselves translations of lost Greek comedies of the fourth century BC. The dialogue and action could easily be made topical and adjusted to satirize local scandals, current events, or regional tastes, mixed with ancient jokes and punch lines. Characters were identified by costume, masks, and even props, such as the slapstick. These characters included the ancestors of the modern clown. Previously rehearsed Lazzi and Concetti are other tools used by a commedia troupe.

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

File:Karel Dujardin 1657 A Party of Charlatans in an Italian Landscape.jpg

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)

Style

Travelling compagnie of players would set up an outdoor stage and provide amusement in the form of juggling, acrobatics, and, more typically, humorous semi-improvised plays based on a repertoire of established characters and a rough storyline. Troupes would occasionally perform directly from the back of their traveling wagon, but this is more typical of Carro di Tespi, a kind of traveling theatre that can be traced back to antiquity. It started in Italy in the 16th century.

The Characters

The characters of the Commedia dell'arte evolved and multiplied over time, through the unique influences of countries. The characters are split into categories: the zanni are the lower-class characters, the vecchi make up the upper-class, and the innamorati are the lovers. Here are a few examples of the characters:

• Arlecchino - also known as Harlequin, is a clown. Typically acrobatic and mischievous, he is one of the zanni. He is a servant, and is recognizable by the colorful diamond-shaped patches that traditionally were part of his costume. The part is sometimes substituted with Truffeldino, his son. However he is never the loser. His mask has a low forehead with a wart, and sometimes wore a black stocking wound round the lower face and then up over the head. Arlecchino is often the servant to Pantalone, or sometimes to Il Dottore. He is in love with Colombina, but she only makes fun of him. He can often have an intimate relationship with the audience, involving them in the action or gesturing to them.

• Brighella - a rogue, usually of few morals, and always untrustworthy. He is portrayed as fierce, aggressive, and selfish.

• Il Capitano - swash-buckling and bold, but not necessarily heroic. Capitano generally wears the military dress of the period he is acting, everything foppish and overdone. Capitano is usually played as a braggart, a ladies-man, and a cavalier.

• Columbina - developed out of Arlecchino, and is his female counterpart. Usually portrayed as clever, crafty, and untamed. She is also a servant and a member of the zanni, and quite often she compels the action. She sometimes is played wearing colored patches in Arlecchino's style.

• Dottore - the doctor. Seen as the intellectual man, but generally that impression is false. He is older, wealthy, and a member of the vecchi. Often played as pedantic, miserly, and hopelessly unsuccessful with women.

• The Innamorati are the lovers. The innamorato and innamorata had many different names over time (Isabella was a particularly popular name as was Flavio, Isabella's male counter part, for the innamorata). They are young, virtuous, and helplessly in love with one another. They wear the most fashionable dress of the period they are acting, and never play in mask. Often seen singing, dancing, or reciting poetry. They are usually played as the children of Dottore and Pantalone depending on the situation they are in. They are madly in love but never seem able to get together.

• Pantalone - a member of the vecchi. Usually quite wealthy, but very greedy. He is the archetypal "old miser." He is concerned with nothing so much as money, and will do anything in order to obtain it. His costume includes red pants, and often a long beard.

• Pedrolino, also known as Pierrot or Pedro, is the loyal servant. He is hard, trustworthy, honest, and in every way devoted to his master. He is also charming and likable, and is portrayed wearing a floppy white outfit with a neck ruff.

• Pulcinella is sometimes called "Punch". He is the freak: pitiable, helpless, and often disfigured. He usually has a hump, a strong limp, or some other obvious physical deformity. In some portrayals he cannot speak, and expresses himself in squeaks or other strange sounds. His personality can be foolish or tricky and shrewd.

• Scaramuccia, also known as Scaramouche, is a roguish character who wears a black velvet mask and black trousers, shirt and hat. He is usually portrayed as a buffoon or boastful coward.

Today

Commedia dell'arte has experienced periods of dormancy and revival since its inception. It had all but disappeared when it was revived by Giorgio Strehler at the Piccolo Teatro of Milan in 1947 with the play Arlecchino: Servant of Two Masters.

• Current American commedia dell'arte troupes include The Dell'Arte School in Blue Lake, Tutti Frutti in San Francisco and i Sebastiani in New England.

• In England, the Ophaboom Theatre Company specializes in work rooted in commedia dell'arte traditions, updated for modern audiences. The troupe has performed (in several languages) throughout the British Isles and across Europe since 1991.

• In Copenhagen, Denmark in Tivoli Gardens "Pantomimeteater" performs every summer.

• In Dublin, Ireland, the Corn Exchange theatre company, under the artistic directorship of Chicago native, Annie Ryan, works in a "renegade" Commedia dell'arte style, to much acclaim.

• In Mainz, Germany, Teatro d´Arte Scarello , Mr. Scarello was many years Actor of the "old and historical Traditional Commedia-Family - I Carrara" (generation with 500 years of Theater).

• In Paris, France, Carlo Boso, a former actor of Giorgio Strehler and his Piccolo Teatro, keeps the tradition of the Commedia dell'Arte alive in directing classical commedia plays as well as improvised stories with his company "Le Mystère Bouffe".

• In Rome, Italy Marco Luly, with his company Luoghi dell' Arte (www.luoghidellarte.com), keeps the spirit of commedia alive, traveling the world with his shows and workshops.

• In Vienna, Austria, Markus Kupferblum, an Austrian theatre and opera director and founder of the Company "Totales Theater", introduces the rules and the structure of the Commedia dell'Arte plays as well as the hierarchy of its characters into contemporary theatre and opera.

• In Corfu, Greece, the commedia dell' arte is played every Easter. To be more precise, during the Holy Week the Petegolezza (gossip in Corfiot dialect) are played in the streets, satirizing contemporary culture.

• In Arezzo, Italy, there is a school where commedia is still taught to both graduate and undergraduate college students. The Accademia dell'Arte trains actors with different professional commedia and physical theatre companies.

• In Spain and Amsterdam, the international theatre company Teatro Punto trains, teaches, and performs a form of commedia dell'arte inspired by various masters such as Jacques Lecoq. Teatro Punto was founded in Paris in 1998 with creators from Italy, England, Ireland, Switzerland, France, Holland and Spain.

• Palmer's Collage, in England, have a yearly production of Commedia as part of their Btec Performing arts course. This gives young people the chance to learn about this amazing peice of theatre and they always do well portraying the characters of Arlecchino, Capitano, Issabella, Flavio, Dottore, Columbina, Pantalone, Pulcinella and Pedrolino.

Further reading

• Commedia dell'Arte: A Practical Handbook for the Actor 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.

External links

• Screener for Commedia by Fava

BOB's being mean to me...

Education Programs

• Naropa University Master of Fine Arts Lecoq Actor Based Theater