I reviewed Jamie MacVicar’s book The Advance Man,last May (read my review here), and now I’m happy to say that Jamie’s book has become a finalist for the prestigious Marfield Prize. This $10,000 prize—(also known as The National Award for Arts Writing) is one of the largest given to a single author. It is awarded annually to a work of […]
Read moreSince it’s the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, I thought I’d put up videos of five of the funniest female physical comedians/clowns from television. The five I’ve chosen are Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Gilda Radner, Tina Fey, and Mary Tyler Moore. It’s a little bit of a stretch to fit MTM into the clown role (she’s such a straight […]
Read moreOne of the classics of Stage comedy (and one of the classic duos of clowning). This is a pretty classic theatre example of their signature routine. (And by the way, it was Lou Costello’s birthday yesterday, March 6.) You can find out more about Abbott and Costello on the official fan webpage: http://www.abbottandcostello.net/ If you can’t see the embedded video, […]
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 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: https://www.clownlink.com/2011/02/commedia-characters-zanni-the-servants/ MASTERS: https://www.clownlink.com/2011/02/commedia-characters-il-vecchio-the-old-men/ LOVERS: https://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 […]
Read moreHappened to catch a little bit of the Leonard Lopate show today, which featured Todd Robbins and Teller (of, of course, Penn & Teller) talking about their hit Off-Broadway show Play Dead Listen to the show here:Â http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2011/feb/18/play-dead/ It’s a great listen!
Read moreJust an alert to those readers who might be interested– I have a guest post blog on the New Victory’s Theatre Blog Site– the subject being the question:Â Are You Ever Too Young For the Circus? For my answer, visit the New Victory Theater Blog
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 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 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 […]
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