Commedia Dell Arte
COMMEDIA DELL’ARTE
Commedia dell’Arte is Latin for comedic arts or Artistic Comedy and is a style of performance that originated in 16th century Italy, during the Renaissance. Some sources believe that there is indication of Commedia dell’Arte being present in Rome and Ancient Greece before that. Commedia would be performed in towns all around Italy by travelling actor troupes who would fold out there caravans to create a stage and put on shows for tips from the people, much like today’s busking.
Unlike other theatre at this time, which was stylish, serious and classy with carefully planned and thought out stories, Commedia was loud, vigorous and inappropriate. It made fun of common day experiences and created caricatures of the people and stereotypes. An example of this is Il Capitano. Il Capitano’s mask and character are caricatures of the cruel soldiers that the Italian people were subjected to in the 16th century. Often ignorant, brutal and egotistical these mercenary soldiers oppressed the Italian citizens, and so it is clear why they took pleasure from seeing the soldiers portrayed in this ridiculous, inept way.
STYLE
Commedia dell’Arte does not follow a script for most of the performances, rather it has a set of rules and structures that the actors learn as well as who their character is and how they would react to certain situations, and from this the performance would be built through improvisation. Each actor had a character that they would play and often this would be character that they stayed with for their whole career so consequently playing this mask would come easily to them and they would come to respond and perform naturally, hence no script would be necessary. Actors could play their characters, even the young lovers, for many years, disguised with the excessive, dramatic make-up or masks that allowed their faces to be hidden.
The style of Commedia dell’Arte features three sets of characters, the zanni (servants), the old men, and the
Commedia dell’Arte is Latin for comedic arts or Artistic Comedy and is a style of performance that originated in 16th century Italy, during the Renaissance. Some sources believe that there is indication of Commedia dell’Arte being present in Rome and Ancient Greece before that. Commedia would be performed in towns all around Italy by travelling actor troupes who would fold out there caravans to create a stage and put on shows for tips from the people, much like today’s busking.
Unlike other theatre at this time, which was stylish, serious and classy with carefully planned and thought out stories, Commedia was loud, vigorous and inappropriate. It made fun of common day experiences and created caricatures of the people and stereotypes. An example of this is Il Capitano. Il Capitano’s mask and character are caricatures of the cruel soldiers that the Italian people were subjected to in the 16th century. Often ignorant, brutal and egotistical these mercenary soldiers oppressed the Italian citizens, and so it is clear why they took pleasure from seeing the soldiers portrayed in this ridiculous, inept way.
STYLE
Commedia dell’Arte does not follow a script for most of the performances, rather it has a set of rules and structures that the actors learn as well as who their character is and how they would react to certain situations, and from this the performance would be built through improvisation. Each actor had a character that they would play and often this would be character that they stayed with for their whole career so consequently playing this mask would come easily to them and they would come to respond and perform naturally, hence no script would be necessary. Actors could play their characters, even the young lovers, for many years, disguised with the excessive, dramatic make-up or masks that allowed their faces to be hidden.
The style of Commedia dell’Arte features three sets of characters, the zanni (servants), the old men, and the
References: Shane-arts.com, (2015). Brief History on Commedia dell 'arte. [online] Available at: http://shane-arts.com/commedia-history.htm [Accessed 10 Feb. 2015]. Delpiano.com, (2015). Italian Comedy | Commedia dell 'Arte | Pantalone | Pantaloon. [online] Available at: http://www.delpiano.com/carnival/html/pantalone.html [Accessed 13 Feb. 2015]. Encyclopedia Britannica, (2014). commedia dell 'arte | Italian theatre. [online] Available at: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/127742/commedia-dellarte [Accessed 14 Feb. 2015]. Bing.com, (2015). Bing Images - Search the web for pictures, photos & images. [online] Available at: http://www.bing.com/images?FORM=HDRSC2 [Accessed 14 Feb. 2015]. Theatrehistory.com, (2015). The Commedia dell 'arte. [online] Available at: http://www.theatrehistory.com/italian/commedia_dell_arte_001.html [Accessed 15 Feb. 2015]. Newworldencyclopedia.org, (2015). Commedia dell 'arte - New World Encyclopedia. [online] Available at: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Commedia_dell%27arte [Accessed 15 Feb. 2015]. Theatrehistory.com, (2015). The Commedia dell 'arte. [online] Available at: http://www.theatrehistory.com/italian/commedia_dell_arte_001.html [Accessed 15 Feb. 2015].