Commedia dell'arte

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Template:Redirect5 Image:KDujardinsCommedia.jpg Commedia dell'arte (Italian: "comedy of professional artists" also interpreted as "comedy of humors"), also known as Extemporal Comedy, was a form of improvisational theater which began in the 16th century and was popular until the 18th century, although it is still performed today.

Contents 1 Style 2 The characters 2.1 Character list 3 The influence of the Commedia 4 The Commedia today 5 Further reading 6 External links

Style

Traveling teams 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 called Canovaccio. Troupes would occasionally perform directly from the back of their traveling wagon, but this is more typical of Carro di Tespi, a kind of travelling theatre that can be traced back to antiquity.

The performances were improvised around a repertory of stock conventional situations, adultery, jealousy, old age, love, some of which can be traced in Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence. These characters included the ancestors of the modern clown. 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 punchlines. Characters were identified by costume, masks, and even props, such as the slapstick.

The characters

Many male commedia dell'arte characters were depicted by actors wearing masks, although the Amorosi (or lovers) did not wear masks. Female characters, were usually not masked until the 1800s. Unlike their English contemporaries (see Shakespeare), commedia troupes usually employed female actresses for female roles. The theatrical device of men in women's clothing and wigs, en travesti, was used for humour.

In some cases, the characters were also traditionally considered as respectively representing some Italian regions or main towns. Often they are still now symbolic of the related town.

Character list

Here follows a list of the original Italian characters, with other English or French names, or descendant characters in parentheses, and the towns/regions with which they became associated: Image:WatteauPierrot.jpg

• Arlecchino (Harlequin), is Pantalone's servant. He is a poor peasant who has left his native Bergamo to seek his fortune in the city of Venice, as it grows rich from its commerce with the Orient. He is illiterate, a fact that often causes amusement when a message arrives and Arlecchino pretends to read it. He is an acrobat and a clown, and carries a baton which he sometimes uses to bash other characters, leading to the modern term slapstick. Arlecchino is not really a villain; he just tries to get by. He has several "masters," but his primary (if covert) interest is for himself. The famous Harlequin costume with its lozenge pattern of red, green, and blue diamonds originated in a stylised representation of patchworked clothing that was illustrative of Arlecchino's poor status, as well as his resourcefulness. There are three types of Harlequin mask: the cat, the pig and the monkey (some say the bull too). The traditional Arlecchino mask is speckled with warts. The lozenge costume gave his name to a fashion motif, the mask to a shape for eyeglass frames: see Harlequin.
• Brighella (Figaro, Molière's Scapin), a money-grabbing villain, a partner of Arlecchino. He is a self-made man, who has become comfortably off by starting his own business, despite humble beginnings. He is often the proprietor of the local tavern. He is a ladies' man, and a typical Latin macho, with all the charm that involves, and all the drawbacks. He is associated with Bergamo.
• Columbina (Columbine, Harlequine, Pierrette), is maidservant to the Innamorata and lover of Arlecchino. She is usually involved in intrigue and is rather intelligent. She is associated with Venice.
• Il Capitano (the Captain) is a boastful he-man soldier, but a coward underneath.
• Il Dottore (the Doctor, usually called Dottore Balanzone or Dottore Graziano), is a local aristocrat, who went all the way to Bologna to read for his degree. He is extremely rich, with "old" money. He adores food and good wines, thus he is a little round.
• Gianduiais a well-mannered Piedmontese peasant. He is associated with Turin.
• Innamorata (the Lover) is the leading woman. She wore no mask (see innamorati).
• Innamorato (the Lover) is the leading man. He wore no mask (see innamorati).
• Isabella (Lucinda, Cornelia, Silvia, Rosaura) is Pantalone's daughter. She is very headstrong, flirtatious, sensuous, and articulate. Men constantly fall hopelessly in love with her and she loves to tease and test them. Her father tries to control her life by arranging meetings with inappropriate overaged gentlemen suitors.
• Mezzetin is a French figure, painted by Antoine Watteau.
• Pagliaccio (the Clown), is a forerunner of today's clowns.
• Pantalone (Pantalon de' Bisognosi, Pantaloon) is a rich and miserly merchant who is the father of Isabella. He also employs Arlecchino and treats him cruelly. He is associated with Venice.
• Pedrolino (or Pierino, most commonly nowadays known as Pierrot) is a dreamer with a white mask, now considered the French version of a clown. He is associated with Vicenza.
• Pulcinella is a hunchback who still chases women. He was the model for Punch in the English puppet theatre Punch and Judy. He is associated with Naples.
• La Ruffiana (Old Woman) is usually a mother or gossipy townswoman who intrudes into the lives of the Lovers.
• Scaramuccia (see also Scaramouche) is a roguish adventurer and swordsman who replaced Il Capitano in later troupes. He is the servant to another character. He wears a black velvet mask and black trousers, shirt and hat.
• Zanni is a threadbare old servant from Bergamo. He is asociated with Venice.

The influence of the Commedia

The commedia dell'arte, with its stock situations, stock characters and improvised dialogue spawned many other forms of drama, including pantomime and Punch and Judy. Richard Strauss used several of the characters in his opera Ariadne auf Naxos.

Aspects of commedia dell'arte also passed into the silent tradition of mime. The Bohemian actor Jean-Gaspard Deburau (1796 -1846) brought the new forms of mime to Paris in the 1830s. He standardized the French image of Pierrot.

The characters and tropes of the commedia have also been used in novels, notably Scaramouche, the 1921 historical novel by Rafael Sabatini, but also in more recent sword and sorcery and literary works, such as Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius stories.

The Commedia today

Commedia dell'arte has experienced periods of dormancy and revival since its inception. Commedia had all but disappeared when it was revived by Giorgio Strehler at the Piccolo Teatro of Milan.

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.

Further reading

• The Innamorati by Midori Snyder is a novel with the commedia as its central conceit. ISBN 031286924X
• One version of The Love Of Three Oranges is subtitled "A Play For The Theatre That Takes The Commedia Dell'arte Of Carlo Gozzi And Updates It For The New Millennium". The authors are Carlo Gozzi and Hillary DePiano. ISBN 1411610326
• Flamino Scala's Il Teatro delle Favole Rappresentative, translated into English by Henry F. Salerno as Scenarios of the Commedia dell'Arte. ISBN 0879101334
• 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. ISBN 0631195904

The song Bohemian Raphsody by Queen was supposedly based on Commedia dell'arte.

External links

• Judith Chaffee's Commedia dell'Arte website
• Website about Commedia dell'Arte
• Thumbnail history of Commedia dell'Arte
• Commedia dell'Arte masksde:Commedia dell'Arte

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