Commedia dell’Arte
Research
Portfolio
Translated to the meaning of “Comedy of
the Artist”, ‘Commedia’ is a historical physical theatre practice that has
become one of the most popular and well used forms of comedy in past and
present entertainment.
Originating in the mid-1500s, the street
market sellers of Venice had priority to sell their products to satisfied
customers, but the difficulty was attracting the general public’s attention. Therefore the street marketer’s devised a
series of performances, in a way, to advertise their products (whether telling
the truth or lies) and made customers more interested in what they were doing
and why they should buy their products.
The marketers sooner became known as ‘performers’. It was then their new priority, as newly
discovered outdoor performers, to truly entertain their customers. Therefore each ‘performer’ gave off many
physical and verbal characteristics and emotions, and then before they knew it
they created a new form of performance.
Gaining more popularity over the years, receiving many positive and
negative outcomes the ‘performers’ developed their performances to a standard
that would be admired and enjoyed by every audience members they received,
through the usage of ‘masks’.
The ‘performers’ usage of ‘Masks’ was to hide
their facial expressions that allowed them to further express physical
reactions towards certain scenarios and give an extra bit of detail to their
performance. Ensuring the audience
gained full understanding and detail to what the characters were going through
mentally and physically.
It was only a matter of time until the
‘Masked Performer’ became a common and tradition within the market street’s
atmosphere. Then the new form of
entertainment was enhanced for the marketing public. Plus as time passed this type of performing
grew in size and became the centre of attention in public carnivals and
festivals, launching this newly found performance style to an increasingly
popular form of entertainment and comedy.
Through the time of the performance’s
development, there came to be two key words depicting their two key performance
types, within the comedic style. These
performance types were known as Farce and Slapstick. Farce, was a performing strategy used in
theatre, depicting a fast paced comedic performance, involving plot twists and
turns, and producing unlikely, yet hilarious, situations for their
characters. Whereas Slapstick, gave a
more physical aspect, involving more hysterical violence and physical actions
between the characters, all the more engaging their audience members and
bringing a vast amount of laughter.
But throughout the history of performing
arts, ‘Commedia dell’Arte’, and ‘Comedy’ in general, has had a huge impact
towards the ‘performers’ acting abilities and the audiences love for theatre
such as ‘Comedy’. It is the Actor’s/Performer’s
job role to learn how to truly get an understanding of their characters inside
out. But it is within the ‘Commedia
dell’Arte’ style that Actors/Performers were introduced to the many types of
characters that reflect their current society and bring forth opportunities to
test their abilities as a ‘performer’. Known
as ‘Stock Characters’ they list from:
1) Arlecchino
(or Harlequin) –
The loveable clown within ‘Commedia’, that allows ‘performers’ to explore their
physical and verbal abilities to bring forth the true fool within him. An example of ‘Arlecchio’ (‘Harlequin’)
within modern day entertainment would be ‘Joey Tribianni’ from the hit
television show ‘Friends’.
2) Brighella – This character depicts a
crafty servant character. Paired with
‘Arlecchino’, ‘Brighella’ is the servant within the posh house that always does
his best to be the best servant, yet always makes the mistakes and makes a fool
of himself.
3) Pantelone – ‘Pantelone’ is the character
in charge. Depicted as the character
always looking down to his servants, and always keeping a posh manner. Although there is a sense of elegance to him,
as we discovered that he would need a helping hand if really necessary. An example of ‘Pantelone’ in modern
entertainment would be ‘Basil Fawlty’ from the BBC’s comedy classic ‘Fawlty
Towers’.
4) Il
Dottore (the Doctor)
– While having the appearance of an old wise character ‘Il Dottore’ was the
lord of the manners, ‘Pantelone’s’, good friend. Except one of the key characteristics of ‘Il
Dottore’ is that he doesn’t have a clue.
This character allows actors to show off their abilities to add
“plumpness” to their physicality and bring forth a sense of clumsiness towards
every action ‘Il Dottore’ brings to the performance.
5) The
Innamorati (the Lovers: Silvia, Corallina, Ottavio and Lelio) – It is these four characters
that bring almost realistic interpretations of married or engaged couples. One pair showing off their long lasting
marriage, yet constantly arguing.
Whereas the other shows the pair in the youth, as well as including
difficulties in amongst their day to day actions in the performances.
6) Isabella – The daughter of ‘Pantelone’,
‘Isabella’ is the character that every man falls for. She is also depicted as the young rebellious
lady, always keeping her headstrong and desperately wanting to control her
life. This character in particular has
key physical poses and props that really show off her rebellious character
traits.
7) Il
Capitano (the Captain)
– Similarly to ‘Il Dottore’, ‘Il Capitano’ is the perfect example of a cocky
show off who really up himself. ‘Il
Capitano’s’ characteristics show that he brings forth a sense of power and
loyalty, but if you were to put a mouse in front of him, he would be nothing
but a coward. A perfect example of this
character in modern entertainment would be ‘Gilderoy Lockhart’ from ‘J.K.
Rowling’s’ novel ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’, as this character
bring a sense of him being in love with himself, yet lied to gain popularity
and is a coward to near everything he speaks of.
8) Colombina
– The sneaky
female servant ‘Colombina’, with the ability to make the ‘Lovers’ turn on each
other, she is a character you’d have to be careful with. Physically she has a posh attitude, yet give
off an amazing twist when telling lies to her superiors. An example of ‘Colombina’ in modern
entertainment would be ‘Polly’ from the ‘BBC’s’ comedy classic ‘Fawlty
Towers’.
9) Pierrot – This is the definition of a
naive clown. ‘Pierrot’ comes across as a
misunderstood character. He has the
physicality of a really sad person, ‘Pierrot’ will do anything to be welcomed
and be laughed at for being one the entertainer around. But ‘Pierrot’ always get his tricks wrong and
continues to be upset. This character
was interesting as it gave us a chance to express strong emotions such as
“happiness” and “sadness”.
10) Pulcinella – Often considered ‘the Punch’,
‘Pulcinella’ is the character that is stuck in between servant and master. A quite confused character, ‘Pulcinella’ has
the physical traits of being tired and board, bring forth some pure entertainment
involving the many other ‘Commedia’ characters.
The genre of comedy alone has been around
since the beginning of theatre, and the genre alone has had a vast impact on
the world of performing arts. But it was
‘Commedia dell’Arte’ that gave an equally vast impact toward the performing
arts, as it allowed Actors/Performers to truly embrace a new physicalized
performance style that achieves the sole purpose of making its audience feel
with joy and laughter.
It can be argued that the true reason for
‘Commedia’s’ succession would be its ‘Stock Characters’. The characters have given the opportunities
for many Actors/Performers over the years to embrace many different physical
styles and ways to express characterised emotions without the use of voice. Plus, as mentioned in the ‘Stock Character’s’
descriptions, they have had a huge impact in modern entertainment. While their costumes and origins stories may
be considered “ancient” by the modern audience, it is the characters physical
actions and scenarios that truly bring forth a planetary sized sense of comedy,
laughter and joy.
Another fictional character, born from the
world of comedy, that has had a huge impact on modern entertainment is the
character “Dell-Boy” from cult BBC Comedy ‘Only Fools and Horses’. It is “Dell-Boy” who is the perfect
representation of the early street market performer. This gives a sense of majesty towards
‘Commedia dell’Arte’ in showing how far the performance style has come, and how
it is still admired and loved today, as well as possibly hinting at a bright
future for the ‘Comedy of the Artist’.
Through my personal experiences I have
worked and performed, in exercise games, as the ‘Commedia Stock Characters’. Experiencing first-hand the comedy elements
within their physicalized and verbal performance techniques, and I personally
would have loved to worked in a production where the ‘Stock Characters’ are the
main feature. My personal favourite
character being ‘Il Capitano’, because if his misleading persona and the hysterical
outcome of his actions. In previous
experiences I have understood other strategies in presenting character emotions
through physical actions, but to a more naturalistic and mature standard. This all the more back-ups my wish to work in
‘Commedia’ productions so I could perform in an “over-the-top” production style
and have a positive and fun-filled atmosphere and attitude throughout
production presentation. Plus it would
allow us as performers to work in a more light-hearted performance structure,
rather than reflecting the dark and gloomy reality that is often looked in
modern contemporary productions, therefore a new ‘Commedia’ production would
reflect old performance traditions and would be something new and entertaining
for modern audiences.
No comments:
Post a Comment