In 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 […]
Read moreJamie Adkins began his career at the age of 13 in San Diego, where he delighted passers-by as a street performer. Later, in San Francisco, he joined the Pickle Family Circus. From the Pickle’s Jamie move to Montreal and joined Cirque Eloize, where he performed over 500 shows for them. Since 2005, Jamie has been using his charms and skills […]
Read moreSince yesterday we talked about not playing subtext while playing commedia, the question naturally arises- what should you play? Or how are you going to sustain and continue to improvise a heightened expressive character? There are several theories about the best way to play a commedia character, and basically, I subscribe to all of them. What I mean by that […]
Read moreWhen I studied at the Dell’arte school of Physical theatre, our Commedia teacher (Michael Fields) would be coaching a scene or an improvisation and then suddenly say “Ah– the Ghost of Chekhov has entered the room.” This was a short hand way of saying he meant that your performance had descended from a heightened state into naturalism or traditional acting, […]
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Flaminio Scala was an actor/manager of one of the most pre-eminent commedia companies of his time. A contemporary of Shakespeare, he was an innovator in that he actually wrote his scenarios down. Before Scala, scenarios were never written down as they were afraid of being stolen- they were the gold with which you could make hay, and what distiniguished your […]
Read moreThe clown scene is starting to pick up in DC– there’s a monthly clown cabaret that has formed under the direction of Mathew Pauli Rich Potter, and Karen Beriss. The second Monday of the month, people are encouraged to come and perform 10 minutes of clown work for audiences at 8 pm at The Shop at Fort Fringe – 607 […]
Read moreGiorgio Strehler was the founder (along with Paolo Grassi) and director of the Piccolo Teatro di Milano. Some would say that he is the father of modern commedia. I don’t think I would go that far, as there were a number of disparate Italian groups working after the war that were trying to figure out how to resurrect Italian pride, […]
Read moreA Message from Dario FoÌ€ (This message was written on behalf of Worldwide Commedia day) I reprint it here by permission as one of the official events of that day! It is a well-known fact that by the end of the 16th century the intensified repression of the Counter Reformation gave rise to a virtual diaspora of Italian theatre companies, […]
Read moreDario Fo is one of the most pre-eminent comic writers and performers of our times. He’s written a number of plays that have been performed throughout the world and seem to have a universal appeal. When he performs in Italy, he performs in soccer stadiums– partially because that’s where enough people can come and see him, and partially because he […]
Read moreCarlo Mazzone-Clementi was the founder of the Dell’arte school of Physical Theatre in Blue Lake California. He was a childhood friend of Amletto Sartori, Marcel Marceau’s first touring partner, worked with Jacques LeCoq, and performed with Dario Fo, Franca Rama, and Giorgio Strehler at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan. In 1959 he came to the United States to teach commedia, […]
Read moreAfter World War II, the Italian intellectual community was searching for their cultural and historical roots. A number of theatre people started to explore commedia dell’arte, which at that time when it was performed was being done as stodgy museum pieces really devoid of life (think bad Moliere)Â A group of artists, including Giorgio Strehler, Dario Fo, Jacques LeCoq, Marcello […]
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The first place to start to learn about Commedia are books. Amazon lists 325 books under the search “Commedia Dell’arte” You can browse all of those books here: Commedia Books on Amazon Below I pick 6 that I particularly like, and that I think are particularly great for both experts and novices alike.  I welcome your own recommendations in the […]
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