Commedia Dell'arte

Commedia Dell'arte

This week we will be delving into the world of Italian theatre style 'Commedia Dell'arte', which first began to develop around Venice in the 16th century as a form of street theatre, travelling from place to place entertaining the locals, often in large market places and town squares.

Commedia dell'arte, which loosely translates to 'comedy of the artists', is often also referred to as 'masked comedy', 'improvised comedy' or 'the improvised comedy of the artists'. This is because often the stories were largely improvised and the artists onstage were portraying 'stock characters' who can be told apart by their specific masks.

Generally, the characters of Commedia Dell'arte do not have clear and concise speech, but the conversation tends to be had in gibberish with the actions, tone of voice, situations, speed of speech and character interactions generally explaining the content of the conversation, without the use of actual words.

Let's look at some stock characters now:

• First we have the Zanni. The Zanni are the lowest on the totem pole, they are unlucky, migrant workers, peasants who is always hungry and will do all sorts of odd jobs for money or food.

As you can see above, the Zanni mask has a long hooked nose like the beak of a vulture. He or she wears tatty rag-like clothes and in the early years of Commedia these costumes were often made from flour sacks.

The physicality of the Zanni is very exaggerated, they stand with bent knees and a low centre of gravity, arms lifted with elbow bent and soft hands, their feet of knees to lead their movements and they move with soft, gentle, quick steps. The Zanni always seem anxious and their heads are always moving, their gaze darting around the space surrounding them.

• Next up is Arlecchino. Arlecchino is a Zanni, a servant to one of three commanding characters, Pantalone, Il Dottore or Il Capitano (who we will explore soon).

The brightly coloured costume and soft felt hat he wears are signs that he is a person of low status, the object of ridicule and somewhat of a clown. His half-mask has a shorter nose that the basic Zanni, making it easier for him to perform acrobatic tricks, and he often has a wart on the top of his forehead.

Arlecchino moves in a very nimble, agile way, often described as cat-like. He is acrobatic and playful and his style of walk is more skipping than stepping, led by his leg which is drawn back then kicked out in front and followed, as he follows the nose of his mask.

• Now lets look at some of the 'Old Men' characters, the leaders, by beginning with Pantalone.

Pantalone is a very rich man and he will generally control all of the money in the world of the Commedia, so most of the other characters will obey his every order, even if it is begrudgingly. He is a bit of a dirty old man, always eyeing off the pretty young ladies around him, in particular a young servant girl named Columbina. Pantalone is a fairly cruel man, mean to his servants and whilst he has a lot of money, he loves it so dearly he will do anything to avoid giving it up.

We can see from the picture above that, similar to the Zanni, Pantalone has a mask with a long beak-like nose, however the face of the mask is also wrinkled and he looks old and withered. Sometimes the mask will even have big hairy eyebrows and a big bushy mustache.

Physically, Pantalone moves much like the stereotypical image of an old man; with his feet turned out slightly, his knees bent, his shoulders hunched over and his backside poking out behind him, all of which also means he is hunched over to protect the money pouch which hangs from the front of his belt. His walk is performed by lifting the knees quite high, while never really getting anywhere very fast.

• The next old man is Il Dottore.

The old doctor is a very learned man who always wears black scholarly robes. He has a very jolly, booming voice and a big round belly. He is renowned for speaking constantly and giving his opinion on all things with a view that he is always right and anyone who disagrees is absolutely wrong.

Like the mask of Pantalone, Il Dottore's mask often features facial hair, like fluffy eyebrows and a well groomed mustache, however unlike the other masks we have looked at thus far, Il Dottore has a round almost pig-like nose, rather than the long birdlike noses of the Zanni and Pantalone. 

When Il Dottore stands, his belly is sticking out and his back is slightly arched and he holds his chin high with authority. Il Dottore walks in little shuffling steps, moving very slowly while his feet seem to move quite quickly.

• Next let's look at the grand character of Il Capitano.

Il Capitano is a very proud man, though it is quite clear that either he was stripped of his role as a captain long ago or, quite simply, it is all made up and he never actually was a captain. Either way he is actually quite a poor man and wears a tatty military uniform which he generally claims looks so damaged because of his incredible strength and bulging muscles bursting through the fabric. Whilst he speaks and acts like a very brave man, overall he is a coward and whenever he is forced to fight he will runaway or hide to avoid his enemy.

Il Capitano's mask often has a long nose, which will sometimes resemble a sword. He commands the space and stands with his feet apart, his chest puffed out and his back long and straight. Il Capitano walks like a man on a mission, with big long, strong steps as though he always knows where he is going and everyone should move out of his way.

The above masked characters are some of the most important stock characters involved in Commedia Dell'arte BUT there are a few characters who don't wear masks. Let's look at the characters who's real natural faces are seen on the stage.

First we have the Lovers.

The Lovers come from noble families, they are well dressed and groomed, young and attractive. Often they are the children of characters like Il Dottore or Il Capitano.

These are not just any loved up couple, they are star-crossed and their love is unrequited. The Lovers are the Romeo and Juliet type of loves, no matter how much they love one another, there is always something tearing them apart.

When the Lovers are standing and walking, their feet barely touch the ground. Think of their movements as if they were ballet dancers, they walk and stand on the balls of their feet, their heads in the clouds.

• The other unmasked character we will look at is Columbina.

Columbina is the hand-maid of the leading lady. She is the pretty, young female Zanni who is better dressed than her male counterparts as she is a ladies maid.

The lovely Columbina stands taller than the male Zanni characters, with one hip slightly pushed out to the side and her opposite foot pointed out to the side. When she walks she points her toes out in front of her as she goes to take a step.

Generally, Columbina is in love with Arlecchino, however she also finds him highly frustrating and difficult. Additionally she is often the love interest of Pantalone or Il Capitano and even though she finds Arlecchino difficult, she know that he is a better prospect than Pantalone or Il Capitano.

What now?

Firstly, here is a quiz for you guys to have a go at to test some of your Commedia Dell'arte knowledge.

Next, if you and your partner decide to do your end of term performance in the style of Commedia Dell'arte, you should start to think about what you are going to do. You might like to look at the master/servant relationship between Pantalone and the Zanni. Or perhaps you might like to look at the story of the Lovers and their unfulfilled love for one another. You could even look at the love between Columbina and Arlecchino, how frustrating yet comfortable they are.

If you are doing your final presentation in the style of Commedia Dell'arte I recommend you pick up a copy of  'Commedia Dell'arte: An Actors Handbook' by John Rudlin (you can borrow a copy from myself or the school library) as it has much more in-depth character descriptions and a great introduction about Commedia Dell'arte as a whole.

Here is a video that shows some really good examples of the physical 

aspects of many of the characters of Commedia Dell'arte

And here is a good one about the use of language in Commedia Dell'arte

If you have any questions about Commedia Dell'arte or the end of term performances, please feel free to ask in the comments section below or to me directly.