Create a Commedia Dell’Arte Character

 

 

Commedia dell’arte is an improvised comedic theatre form that flourished in Italy in the 1500’s. The exact origins of Commedia are fuzzy and hard to pin down. There is not much documented previous to the 16th century. The term itself (Commedia dell’arte) wasn’t put to common use until the 18th century. It is generally acknowledged that the form solidified in Italy in the 1550’s and reached its peak in the 1650’s.

 

Despite an opaque history, the elements that define Commedia are quite clear:

 

• improvised performances based on scenarios – actors worked off a base outline and made up their lines.

• stock characters – the characters were always the same, only the situations changed.

• limited themes – love, money, or food were the base of almost every scenario.

• use of mask – the mask defined the characters.

• use of lazzi – short comedic physical bits within the story.

• use of mime, acrobatics, and music.

 

The key to creating a Commedia character is to remember that they are stock characters. In every scenario or story they’re in, the characters remain the same. They have the same attitude, the same look, the same drive, the same physical action.

 

That means you would be able to recognize a Commedia stock character in an instant by how they move, what they wear, and how they act.

 

Creating A Commedia Character:

Step One

What category will you choose?

Commedia characters are fixed types who fall into one of three categories:

• The Servants (eg: Arlecchino or Columbina)

• The Masters (eg: Pantalone)

• The Lovers (eg: Isabella and Flavio)

 

The masters are usually foolish greedy old men, and the servants are hungry and mischievous. The young lovers are always in love. Most of the characters wear masks, but even those without masks (e.g. the Lovers) treat their personas as masks. In Commedia, the characteristics of a character (such as a walk, a pose, or a gesture) are just like wearing a mask.

 

Creating a Commedia Character:

Step Two

Pick a character

After you choose a category, you need to choose a character. Each character has defined attributes that never change. So you’re not creating a new commedia character, you’re choosing an existing character and inhabiting his or her attributes.

 

 

Here are a couple of examples.

 

The Masters

 

Pantalone

Description: Old Venetian Merchant. Rich and greedy miser. Obsessed with money. Always after women and thinks he’s good at it. Gullible and often tricked.

 

Costume: Red pants and top with a flowing black cloak. Has a money bag.

 

Mask: Long pointed nose. Often has a moustache and bushy eyebrows.

 

Movement: Leads with the forehead and has a hunched back with bent knees. Think crow or chicken. Fluttery hands, which he tries to contain by clasping them behind his back. Always bent over, trying to keep his money safe!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dottore

Description: Head of another family.  Pantalone with brains that can be quite annoying.  – Shane

Bachelor or widower.  When he does marry he is immediately cuckolded.  Often father to one of the lovers.

 

Costume: Black academic dress satirising Bolognese scholars.  Long jacket with black coat over-reaching to his heels, black shoes, stockings and breeches, and black skull-cap.  Lolli, in mid-seventeenth century, added a wide ruff round the neck and a very wide-brimmed black felt hat. 

 

Mask: Covers the nose and forehead only.  The actor’s cheeks are thus revealed and often reddened to show Il’ Dottore’s fondness for the bottle.  According to Goldoni the mask itself has a bibulous orgin:  ‘the idea of the singular mask which covers his face and nose, was taken from a wine stain which disfigured the countenance of a jurist-consult of those times.

 

Movement: Walks peripatetically in figures of eight, using tiny, mincing steps.  His walking posture descends while he thinks (out loud, of course) and rises up again on the solution of the problem.  The later French version walks like a lizard, leaning forward, using his head.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Servants

 

 

Arlecchino (also known as Harlequin)

Description: Servant, poor, always wanting money, always hungry. Carries a bat/slapstick. Stupid and smart at the same time. Doesn’t want to work but eager to please.

 

Costume: Tight fitting patchwork/colourful costume.

 

Mask: Black mask. Small eyes. Catlike face.

 

Movement: Low status. Very acrobatic and quick. Leads with his knees and is very active, always on the move, never moving in a straight line. Think monkey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Columbina

Description: Servant. Name means Little Dove. A female version of Arlecchino – quick wit, vain, never in love. She is often spiteful. Often a servant to Isabella, an Innamorata. Usually the smartest character on stage.

 

Costume: Often dressed in similar colours to Arlecchino. Cap and apron. Dressed as a lady’s maid.

 

Mask: Sometimes she wears a mask and sometimes not. If she does, it’s a small one that only covers the eyes.

 

Movement: Though she’s a servant, and therefore low status, her movements correspond to her strong, quick-witted character. She stands with a hip cocked to the side, hands on hips. She moves with quick, strong steps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pulcinella Cetrulo

Description:His name means little chicken (Pulcino = day-old chick in Italian) His full name is Pulcinella Cetrulo (citrulo = stupid). He became Polichinelle in France, Hanswurst (Germany), Toneelgek (Holland), Kasperle (Austria), Petrushka (Russia), Karagoz (Turkey) and Mr. Punch in England.   Can either be employer or employee: no respecter of persons either way. e.g. magistrate, baker, schoolmaster, spy even poet.

 

Costume: Long baggy white blouse, tied around the waist with a leather belt...baggy white trousers and white sugar-loaf hat. Stick and purse.

 

Mask: Brown or black with long, beaked nose. Furrowed with wrinkles and a large wart on the forehead.

 

Movement: Weight is basically on one leg...center of gravity high. Pulcinella, in an effort to avoid the blows of an uncaring world, stays crouched and curled up like a frog. Small jerky steps. Often crouching. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zanni

 

Description: Zanni is both singular and plural, the Venetian diminutive of Giovanni. It can be both a generic name, referring to all zanni or the name of an actual Mask when the character is not defined further as being Arlechinno, Brighella, Pedrolino, etc. In the sixteenth century it was also shortened to Zan as a prefix to further identification: Zan Paolo, Zan Ganasso, etc. In Italian, it is simply the name given to any unnamed character, a person whose actual identity you cannot be bothered to dsicover. I was once acquainted with a man who had the patronizing habit of calling all non-Caucasians 'George'. My own name suffers the same utility, so I am familiar with such familiarity: "All right, John!" However, by way of compensation, zanni also gives us 'zany' in English

 

Costume:  Baggy, white, originally made of flour sacks. (Rudlin)

 

Mask:  Originates in the full-face Carnival mask parodying a facchino, but, with the development of the short plays known as Zannata, with improvised dialogue between Pantalone and various zanni, the bottom had to be hinged and was finally cut away altogether. As with other Commedia characters, the longer Zanni's nose, the more stupid he is

 

Movement: 1.) Little Zanni walk: this is a development of the basic stance, foot changing but taking a small step forward on each shift. The shoulders down, elbows forward, feet pointed. The knees come high off the ground and to the side. Use a two-time rhythm in even beats with the head pecking like a chicken, but still without bobbing up and down. Zanni uses this walk when going somewhere, but with no great purpose.

 

2.) Big Zanni walk: a curved lumbar is first achieved by sticking chest forward and the backside up (this is very demanding to sustain and should be complemented by a forward spinal release when out of character). With the feet in fourth extended, bend the support knee and lower the center of gravity. Raise the front and back and make a scything foot. This walk is is purposeful: for example slowly trying to cross the stage without being noticed or quickly escaping the consequences of an action without drawing attention to it.

 

3.) Zanni running: a swift movement with legs kicked alternately to the front with pointed toes. Arms move with opposite legs.

 

4.) Zanni jubilant: a skipping movement on the toes with center of gravity shifting from side to side. Rest hands on belt, which is roughly at hip level. Head able to move independently, as always.

 

5.) Vain Zanni: steps are smaller version of the big walk, hands again resting on belt. When the leg lifts, the chest is thrust forward and the arms brought back in the chicken strut. Used when he has a new button or a feather in his cap.

 

6.) Soilder Zanni: hold a stick cupped in one hand and inclined over shoulder like a rifle. In the march, shoulders move up and down in two-time but the feed do three beats. 'Trampety-tramp, tramperty-tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp...' 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lovers

Isabella and Flavio

Description: These characters are very much in love with love. They love each other, they love themselves. They carry mirrors so that they can look at themselves as often as possible. They act completely over the top in their infatuations (like Soap Opera characters). They have no notion of the consequences of their actions, nor are they all that bright.

 

Costume: Think Italian Renaissance Princes and Princesses. They are covered head to toe, perhaps excessively, in the best fashions and finery.

 

Mask: They don’t wear masks, but do wear makeup. They are always young and attractive.

 

Movement: High status. Whatever they do, it’s melodramatic and over the top. They glide instead of walk. They don’t stand, they pose. They show pride in every move they make.