Chapter 9 (Part 2): Italian Renaissance & Commedia del 'Arte

Cantarina and Ballerina

Cantarina and Ballerina may not have been big characters being dancers and singers, but they played just as big a part. Their part was as big because it was common to have the storyline interrupted by some sort of spectacle. It could even be said that they paved the way for how we see musicals today.

the world of Commedia Dell'Arte

COLOMBINA

Colombina is what the Innamorata is not; free, insolent, not a slave of love, she is sometimes brilliant, but always vain , gossiper. She is always prone to intrigue at somebody else's expenses. A sort of Harlequin in female clothes, and in fact she comes up in certain setups as Harlequina with a patched costume duplicate of Harlequin's.

She is usually Harlequin's companion, and only woman to sometimes wear a mask on stage, Colombina brings that female pepper and intransigence to the plot.

F.Boscarati- "La dame deguisée en Arlequine"

ARLECCHINO (Harlequin)

Harlequin is a poor character, wearing a colorful patched costume, the patches probably remnants of richer costumes.

Anarchic kind of behavior, always hungry and with no money,

He's hungry, always, but he has all the necessary wit and creativity to get along, survive, take his satisfactions on the world that is constantly abusing him.

Maurice Sand - "Arlechino"

INNAMORATI

The Lovers bring into the Commedia dell'Arte those little touches of soap opera around which the action may easily be developed. Important in their role as much as with a flat personality the Innamorati helped the public to identify and sink deep in the stories.

Very often they are son and daughter of Pantaloon and the Dottore.

Maurice Sand - Lelio

Maurice Sand - Corallina

Maurice Sand - "La Ballerina"

Commedia dell'arte or Italian comedy is the art of improvisational and physical comedy. Starting in Italy, in the 16th century, troupes moved into all of Europe, influencing theatre in Spain, Holland, Germany, Austria, England, and especially, France.

The art of commedia was performed without scripts. Instead of scripts commedia was based on a predesignated basic plot and a general idea of how it should be performed. The improvised performances were never subtle; the humor was often bawdy and coarse. Commedia is in every way, the definition of spectacle, as it uses; drama, dance, comedy, physical comedy, juggling, masks, music, poetry, scatological humor, song, slack rope walking, stilts, tumbling, and the art of improvisation.

While everything worked together to create the beauty of commedia dell'arte, one of the most memorable and important things about this art form are the characters.

Isabella

The Isabella character is certainly the most known among all female Lovers or innamorati. Usually seen as the daughter of Pantalone. She is well educated, "Flirtatious, headstrong, dramatic intensity, feigned madness due to passionate love common. Can be prudish."- Rudlin

Maurice Sand - "Isabella"

The Know it all

Today in society we see "The Doctor" from old

times as, "the know it all". Like the doctor, "the know it all" acts like he knows everything, most of the time he is wrong. Seen as full of hot air.

"The know it all" is usually seen wearing glasses to imply that he is more superior in intelligence than others.

property of Derrick Comedy. Production shot "Mystery Team"

The Jock

The jock has stemmed from Il Capitano, they share similar traits such as good looks and a disdain toward authority. A good looking guy that acts tough but when challenged, ultimately shows himself as a coward and doesn't accept the challenge.

Eric Johnson- production shot "Smallville"

PANTALONE (Pantaloon)

IL CAPITANO (The Captain)

The Captain is a crowd pleaser, a crowd which was oppressed by mercenary occupation armies He had a kind of a platonic revenge toward the oppressor, and especially toward the mercenary soldiers, violent brutes who would take advantage in all senses of the poor subordinate populations.

Abraham Bosse - "Capitaine Fracasse"

Stock Characters

The venetian merchant, rich, greedy and naive. He is always having to deal with people trying to take his gold from him, and always losing against wit and improvisation. At times he will find himself feeling pleasant for the trust he feels for the others, than quickly looses that thought once he thinks about his money again.

The actors of the commedia represented fixed social types, for example; foolish old men, devious servants, or military officers full of false bravado.

Let's meet the gang

Giacomo Franco - "Attori di Strada"

Maurice Sand- "Pantalone"

Robin Hood

The Robin H

ood character is a character that is a voice for the poor, he steals from the rich in order to let the poor have a better life. in one way or another somehow finds himself free of charges because either he has escaped or the masses formed together to get him freed.It can be said that Robin Hood is a product of Scaramouche because like Scaramouche, Robin Hood is fast and fray, in characteristics and his fighting, by using hit and run tactics. Robin Hood is also a women chaser which may get him in trouble. But just like scaramouche he always finds a way out of it.

Property of 20th century fox, Production shot "Robin Hood Men in Tights"

The Nerd

The nerd is a character that is seen in an environment that is not mainstream, it can be seen that the nerd is also a derivative of Dottore, because the both share a similarity for education. A lot of times you will see the nerd picked on by the jock character because of the nerd's superior intellect. Often seen in clothes that are out of style. Often seen performing a task that is noted as "nerdy" or not cool.

ZANNI

The zanni is poor, desperate, ignorant, but smart in his own way. Everybody makes fun of him. He gets his revenge, though, and outsmarts many. He's constantly hungry, and constantly exploited. the primo Zanni is smart, while the second Zanni is hopelessly stupid.

Zanni is friend of Harlequin, of which he shares the basic needs, food and lack of nobility.

Pietro Bertelli - "Zanne Maschere"

PULCINELLA (Polichinelle)

A Philosophical, eternally melancholic, dreamer, Pulcinella has a spirit all of his own. No tensions or despair, his melancholic approach to life makes him coast problems, situations, live adventures and at the end simply getting out of everything, in the same simple manner as how he got involved.

Maurice Sand: Pulcinella with the "coppolone"

Robert Carradine in a production shot for "Revenge of the Nerds"

IL DOTTORE (The Doctor)

The Doctor is member of every academy, he knows everything and makes citations in cultivated Greek or Latin, too bad they are never right. For this his children and servants make fun of him. He is known as an "eternal gas-bag"

On stage he is very seldom a real medicine doctor, he more often impersonates a Lawyer, a Judge, or the Notary Public.

The Doctor is normally used in the Commedia dell'Arte plays to put a break in the action, with empty, pre-fabricated and supposedly erudite monologues.

• "Dottore" -Maurice sand
• http://www.delpiano.com/carnival/html/dottori.html

SCARAMOUCHE (Scaramuccia)

Scaramuccia literally means "small, fast fray" giving the idea of a soldier who doesn't involve himself too much in the battle, this is also a way to classify his fighting style; a little touch here, a short attack there.

He is more of a woman hunter than a soldier, in reality, great friend of Pulcinella, Scaramouche is less boasting than his predecessors, and more clever, Not only is he lucky in life, he always finds a way of reversing the consequences of his acts on somebody else.

Maurice Sand - Scaramouche

The Scrooge

We can see direct links from the Scrooge to Pantalone.

Both are only moved by money. However are eventually moved by other people after noticing mistakes that have been made.

The Scrooge is widely known in society because of a Christmas story where a man named Scrooge is almost an evil person with how much he doesn't care for anything but money.

property of Disney Entertainment.

Now that we know the stock characters and what they stand for, i'm going to show you how these characters influenced some of our stock characters today. Some directly from the characters of Commedia dell'arte, others gained from society as it progressed.

The hippie

The hippie is a character we see that can be stemmed from Arlecchino. Much like Arlecchino, the hippie has no money and is very creative, however what the hippie brings to the table that Arlecchino doesn't is that society always sees a hippie as high on drugs.

image received from http://www.squidoo.com/guppies

The Child

The Child doesn't have to mean a literal child. It can also mean, and in a lot of cases does, an adult who acts like a child. I see a direct link between the child of this day and age with Pulcinella of the 16th century. They both can coast through life because of the non-caring look they have on their lives. and because of the child like presence can get out of most situations without any form of reprimand.

Thank you to my sources

http://shane-arts.com/commedia.htm

http://www.delpiano.com/carnival/html/commedia.html

http://italian.about.com/library/weekly/aa110800a.htm

http://www.squidoo.com/commedia-dellarte

http://fuckyeahippies.tumblr.com/

http://www.observer.com/2011/12/teamsters-sothebys-is-killing-christmas/1983-mickey-greed-scrooge/

http://www.allmoviephoto.com/photo/2009_mystery_team_004.html

http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/EMARTIN/

http://www.aveleyman.com/FilmCredit.aspx?FilmID=16142

http://www.thedigitalbus.com/usa-network-expands-tv-show-into-digital-environment/

http://revengeofthenerds.wikia.com/wiki/Lewis_Skolnick

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peeter_van_Bredael_Commedia_dell_arte_Szene.jpg

Commedia dell'arte helped pave the way for stock characters in entertainment. You may not see it all the time, but our entertainment industry has a lot to thank Commedia for. If Commedia dell'arte didn't use stock characters, we probably wouldn't have the characters we see everyday.

"COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE-SZENE IN ITALIENISCHER LANDSCHAFT Öl"-Peeter van Bredael