I was going through some old stuff I’d written, and came across this “Advice For the Director” that I’d written in 2002 on a discussion list for theatre about somebody tackling a commedia project for the first time with newbie actors as well. I think it sums up my take on acting in physical comedy and commedia dell’arte plays very […]
Read moreOn Sunday, I got a chance to celebrate the end of Commedia month with the 3 pm performance of Piccolo Theatre’s A Servant of Two Masters at the Evanston Art Depot in Evanston, IL. The theatre is housed in a working train depot, and it was quite an interesting place. You can read the full history of the depot on […]
Read moreI’ve already told you what official activities are going on in support of Worldwide CDA day, but I got to thinking that there’s got to be better ways to add some Commedia to your life than seeing a play. Here are 10 ways to add some commedia dell’arte to your life today. Please note these are not sanctioned by anyone […]
Read moreWhich commedia dell’arte character are you? This quiz was originally created to help publicize Music Theatre of Madison’s Summer 2011 production of The Glorious Ones. In case you don’t know, it’s a commedia dell’arte musical created by the composers of SEUSSICAL, RAGTIME and ONCE ON THIS ISLAND. MTM will present the Wisconsin premiere this summer. For more information about the […]
Read moreThanks to Christina Gelsone of Acrobuffos for suggesting this link! Eric Joisel was one of the premier origami artists in the world. A Frenchman, he was a sculptor and a self-taught origamist, who spent over 35 years trying to figure out how to make artwork out of 1 sheet of paper without cutting. He passed away in October 2010 at […]
Read more[I’ve asked a few great mask makers to submit a guest post entitled: What Makes A Great Commedia Mask? Their responses will appear here over the next few days. The images sprinkled throughout this page are from the author’s website, copyright by the author (as is the text), and used by permission. For permission to reprint this article or the […]
Read moreWorldwide Commedia Day is 4 days away– how are you going to celebrate? Faction Of Fools, one of the organizers, has a list of what’s going on- there’s something on nearly every continent! This is what they have so far (for the most updated list, visit the Faction of Fools website! ) I’m going to be in Chicago– so will […]
Read moreWhile doing research I came across this scholarly paper. Thought I’d offer it up today as a kind of a wrap up of my three posts on the Commedia Characters. (In case you’ve forgotten here they are) SERVANTS: http://www.clownlink.com/2011/02/commedia-characters-zanni-the-servants/ MASTERS: http://www.clownlink.com/2011/02/commedia-characters-il-vecchio-the-old-men/ LOVERS: http://www.clownlink.com/2011/02/commedia-characters-the-innamorati/ And here’s the scholarly article. It’s written by Dr. Scott McGehee, founding director of Accademia Dell’arte, which […]
Read more[I’ve asked a few great mask makers to submit a guest post entitled: What Makes A Great Commedia Mask? Their responses will appear here over the next few days. The images sprinkled throughout this page are from the author’s website, copyright by the author (as is the text), and used by permission. For permission to reprint this article or the […]
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The Zanni are the class of servants that are on the bottom of the food chain– they are porters, servants, and lower class citizens who serve their masters hare-brained schemes, bungle their own hare-brained schemes, and once in a long while make out like bandits, only to have their loot pulled away from them at the last second. Zanni is […]
Read moreCommedia Dell’Arte course. Traditional theatre to contemporary theatre March 28-April 8 and July 18-July 29, 2011 ILE organizes 2 week courses in theatre in Florence for actors to enhance their physical expression and learn the techniques of storytelling and improvisation as well as scene study analyzing the major authors together with the tradition of the Commedia Dell’Arte through Moliere, Shakespeare, […]
Read moreIn the cosmology of Commedia, there are three classes of characters:Â The Masters (those with money, often called Il Vecchio, the Old Men)Â The Servants (the zanni) who serve the Masters; and the Lovers (the Innamorati, who we introduced yesterday) There are a couple of characters who straddle the line one way or the other, and we’ll talk about them […]
Read moreIn honor of Valentine’s day, we examine the innamorati (the lovers) The Commedia lovers were the only unmasked characters in the show. They were the plot engines behind the stories. Typically their story was what drove the father characters to war ; the zanni characters to create all kinds of crazy plots and tricks, and when all else failed, their […]
Read moreWhen you are performing as a puppet, or (for commedia) as a masked character– it’s important to remember that the mask on your face is inanimate. It is made of leather or papier mache or some other fixed material that has a fixed expression, a fixed architecture. Despite that, your character is alive, and changes emotions, sometimes at a quite […]
Read moreDuring the mid-1700’s, (over 100 years after Flamino Scala) two commedia performers/playwrights were having a feud over the future of commedia. They were both named Carlo, they were both Venetian, and they both had very different ideas about what made commedia dell’arte special and worthwhile. Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793) was for getting rid of the masks and improvisatory nature of commedia […]
Read moreAt one of my alma maters (The Dell’arte School) , one of the school’s rehearsal mantras when a scene or a play isn’t working right is to rehearse it “Italian style.†By this they mean to perform the scene or the play as loud and as fast as you can, and with as much energy as you can muster.  Pedal […]
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