The Importance of Commedia' Dell Arte

Commedia' Dell Arte : A Background 

In the 16th century, the political and economic crisis was prevalent in Italy . T his was the backdrop on which C ommedia D ell’ Arte sprang forth and flourished (Jordan, 201 4 ). It has been suggested that the art form dates back to the Roman empire . During this period, plays featured characters wearing masks with grossly exaggerated features and improvised plots. It has been argued that some stock characters in these ancient Roman plays were the first versions of characters such as Pantalone , Pulcinella , and Il Capitano , who are part of the archetypes in commedia. Hence, the initial Commedia Dell’ Arte was recorded from Rome as early as the 1550s . T hey were performed outdoors in temporary venues by professional actors who were costumed and masked. On the contrary, commedia erudite were performed indoors, and the performers were frequently unmasked. However, there is a long-standing tradition of efforts aimed at attributing the art form’s orig in. 

The term Commedia Dell’ Arte has been translated variously as a professional comedy and the art of comedy. H owever, the most appropriate description is ‘theatre of professionals’ or ‘professional theatre . ’ It is also known as commedia alla maschera , commedia improvviso or commedia dell’arte all’improvviso . Whatever the nomenclature, commedia is described as a form of theatre which is characterized by masked types with the improvisation of performances based on scenarios. A distinctive feature of this genre or theatre form is the lazzo . This entails the sill y jokes or witty comments that are well known to its audience. The other notable feature of this type of performance is the pantomime which was synonymous with the character of Arlecchino . This genre may be related to the carnival in Venice, where in 1570, the character Il Magnifico was in existence and which preceded the character Vecchio or oldman Pantalone. The other characters included Capitano and Dottore and were not masked at the time . M asking might have arisen from the close relation to the carnival, which had the tradition of masking. The custom of masking was also centred in M antua, Florence and V enic e. 

A genre of this type of comedy, referred to at the time as perfect comedy was organized through the use of fixed types of archetypes . I n the 16 th century, these included male and female servants, old men, the magnifico or Pantalone , male and female lovers, the Dottore, and the Capitano ( Simpson et al. , 2007). Generally, these fixed types fall into four main categories that include servants, old men, lovers and captains. Th e fixed social types and stock characters were often depicted as devious servants, greedy old men (Pantalone), foolish old men, know - it - all doctor ( Dottore ) , captains or military personnel that were full of themselves ( Capitano ) ( Wittig , 1974) . It also consisted of many features, the purpose for which was to allow for the greatest amusement. These features include d physicality ; the innovative use of female alongside male actors ; reversed roles ; as well as disorder created by subversion. This form of theatre has been conceptualized as one that is an autonomous and independent genre . It is perceived as a full, complete, total theatre, which consists of all techniques and disciplines of the various forms of theatre. It was performed in public and outdoors , often on platforms or in public places such as the piazza . 

The success of this genre arises from the fact that the actors would master the characteristics of the genre, in addition to a number of skills that include d gesturing, physicality, improvisation as well as body and voice exaggeration . Well thought-out scenarios were also devised to depict immediate news and topical issues that were relevant for the setting and the locality . T his inclusion of current topical issues in performances enriched them and ensure d relevance of content to context and the lives of audiences. This character enabled C ommedia D ell’ A rte troupes to assume a variety of modes generat ing variety that was exploited for profit . This, in turn , concretized the future of this art form. Accordingly, the commedia flourished for a period tha t spanned two decades, between the mid-sixteenth to the mid 18 th century (“ 18th-Century Theatre,” n.d.) . I ts popularity spread beyond the Italian peninsula and into and through Germany, Spain, France, with companies taking up residence in European cities . At the time, this art form was considered a new genre and was popular as it delighted and interested many audiences . 

The organization of C ommedia D ell’ Arte is such that it depicts human frailties of personality and behavior into four distinct character types . These were also referred to as fixed types or archetypes. These types of character include the Master, Captain, Lover, and Servant. The depiction of human frailties through comedy enables this theatre form to create a connection with the audiences using the fixed types with the portrayal and highlighting of the aspects of their lives on stage. Commedia creates an atmosphere in which audiences can experience freely the impact of real-life personalities being portrayed in an exaggerated fashion through theatre . This can be termed as art imitating life through comedy. This is skillfully achieved by using scenarios of conflict and human flaws to amuse audiences by mirroring the real lives of the audience on stage. This mastery spilt over to melodrama, burlesque, slapstick comedy and into the Elizabethan theatre ( Simpson et al. , 2007 ). 

The A rt F orm: Fixed T ypes and I mprovisation 

The scenario is the template for this mobile theatre form which is the basis for improvisation as well as adaptation to various locales and cultures . It also c ontributed to its dissemination. The scenarios from collections of manuscripts can be used to understand the functioning of improvisation . O ver 800 commedia surviving scenarios are a reflection of the extent of improvisation which is neatly connected with flexibility and structure . Actors frequently perform ed scripted as well as improvised plays . H owever, the performed scenarios were both repeated and unique. The comici were humanist in the sense that they borrowed copiously from the themes of authors such as Ariosto, Boccaccio, Petrarch, and others . They subsequently brought to the stage performance s filled with variety and pleasurable excitement. Simpson et al. (2007) present a framework of this theatre form which involves two fundamental principles. These are innovation and referentiality . The former involves continuous updating to fit diverse socio-cultural contexts while t he latter r efer s to faithfulness to the genre ’s characteristics. The genre characteristics include five reference points . These are fixed types, improvisation, multilingualism, mask s and anachronism. The structure of this genre consists of an overall plot synchronizing all the actors; a sub - structural level guiding the actors about scenes ; character interactions and speech acts; and the locality in which scenes were brought to life with verbal gestures and physical enactmen t. 

The different scenario types such as S cala, Locatelli, Corsini, Casamarciano, Vatican, Adriano, and Correr vary in the complexity of their plots . H owever, they are derivatives of Commedia Erudit a, which was well understood by the composers as well as actors of the Commedia Dell’ Arte . Italian comedy consists of both scripts and scenarios with transformations from one to the other , back and forth and should be understood as such (Ducharte, 1966). The Commedia Dell' Arte bring s to life the father and child generational conflict of the new comedy, mediated by the slave or servant . This is enriched by two pairs of lovers embodying a full range of passionate actions and speeches. The passions of these innamoratile of the Commedia D ell’ Arte carry them into compelling and diverse situations far beyond predictable rhetoric of present-day performances. The lovers in these scenes , both female and male , could handle a sword ; perform a mad scene ; impersonate other characters ; assume both same and transitive disguises ; cleverly outmanoeuvre their antagonists ; and get involved in prank s. 

Generally , in C ommedia D ell’ Arte , the dramatic plot tends to become more complex or move toward s agonism than the hierarchically nestled structures . F or instance, there might be a Zanni plotting to help his Innamorato master to gain the object of their desire . A t the same time , there is probably another Zanni or Innamorato father attempting to thwart the former's effort. Similar to the complexity of the scripted comedy, the scenario plots offer pleasure while continuously testing and gauging the ratio of complexity and intelligibility . They also harnes s into the play energies of the improvising comical male figures such as the Capitano , the Zanni , and the Dottore with his affinity for anarchy. However, sometimes , the over - inflation of the male characters has been described as plot distracting i f it were not for the balancing of form and freedom in scenarios (Henke & Nicholson , 2014). Preceding the act by act notation is usually included an important background plot to the play , occasionally overlapping with the play’s actions . T his usually varies in complexity and literally puts the actors on the same page . I n the course of the scenario , it acts as a reminde r. 

For the audience of the printed scenarios, the reading pleasure is magnified by significantly expanding the play in space and time . For instance, a list of characters grouped by household usually followed the background plot to the play. The purpose of this was to guide the actors through successive performances . T he improvis ed acting would have made it difficult to keep track of the two or three houses designated on stage. A critical function of the overall structure as contemplated in a scenario w as to limit the number of actors on stage at a given time . This was done to improve freedom for improvisation to work better . For instance, i mprovisation works better in the presence of two speaking characters. The scenarios also function to guide improvisation between more than two character s. This can be achieved for instance by aligning characters and allowing actors to enter serially to perform the same act, or by allowing o ne character to perform the same action on several characters (Mittman , 1982).

Substructure: Scenes, A ctions, R outines, and S peech A cts 

The scenario gave adequate information about the substructural level of the plot , hence determining the kind s of actions, scenes, speech acts and routines that the performers would use . The monological and interactional units could be allowed to expand and contract as determined by the performers from the reactions, interests and pleasures of the audience. I n a scenario , a single action such as a line could provide richly expandable possibilities . F or instance , in piazza pamphlet, Pantalone’s call to Zanni to appear before him could be richly delayed and expanded in a way that the scenario provides a location point and m any verbal clues built in. F or instance , the Zanni enquires after the master on whether a hat should b e brought in before him . Th e enquiry is repeated , stressing the need for clarity about the timing and what exactly should b e brought before his master. Hence, the scenario would also signal the advancements in the clarity of the beginning and endpoints of the performers. The improvisatory unit starts at the point at which Pantalone asks for his servants and terminates at the point the servant appears in front of hi m. 

The vast majority of scenario indicators are often references to the plot , which served as a distinction between the professional comedy and the less structured improvisations by charlatans in the piazza. For instance, the most significant portion of this following instruction in Scala’s Il cavadente is a reference to the plot . This happens when Capitano enters and rants before Arlecchino takes him aside and informs him that his mistress has made alternative arrangements with Pedrolino concerning what he has to do to get into her house. The Capitano turns to Pedrolino and Arlecchino runs off . P edrolino hears nothing of it and suggests , off the cuff , that he should go and dress disguised as Pantalone, and he will then take him in. The Capitano is elated and delighted, and he heads off to dress in the suggested disguise. This is an example in which the routine about the Capitano’s ranting at Arlecchino could have been more protracted . I t provides a clear vision of the insertion point fro m a detachable pre - performed set piece.

When read with an eye to the rich body of printed and manuscript poems, and dialogues which are usually performed by C ommedia Dell’ Arte performers themselves and closely associated with regular company performance, the scenarios are seen to accommodate many verbal set pieces that constituted the individual actors ’ repertoire. A good example of the Bakhtinian genre of speech is the detachable C ommedia Dell’ Arte speech scene . The scene renders speech as an action in the form of insults, threats, curses, caresses, praises, denunciations, challenges, mockery, desperation, complaints, laments, reproaches, amorous declarations, blustering, and supplications. This list indicates the deep ly binary nature of character interactions in C ommedia Dell’ Arte , with a clear distinction between allies and enemies. For instance, the es c orted Pantalone fulsomely praises the virtues of Isabella and in the next minute acidly derides his dissolute or even rival son. A much better example of this binarism would be the performance of P antoleone and Dottore . Here, they abjectly and excessively p raise each other to their faces but the n turn to the audience t he ve r y next minute and snar l to show what they think of about each other.

Verbal and P hysical E nactment 

With the kinds of scenes or speech acts scanned and determined, the performers act in the play to offer a feel of the oral texture. The actors study and arm themselves with material arranged mentally in a codified manner with a great variety of items such as proverbs, conceits, love speeches, reproaches and desperations in readiness for the occasio n . This was augmented with book study and the use of elements of memorization such as grids, places, images, and alphabetical organization. At the linguistic and gestural level , as well as the substructural level, the C ommedia Dell’ Arte system may have well generated a language that enables one to know the i r place in the system, hence awareness of what to say. The other feature is that char a cters occupying the same level and status will have the same worldview, lexicon, rhetorical formulae and similar discomfitures. For instance, Pantalone and the Dottore share lexicons of finance, parenting, bourgeois society . They would, therefore, share in discussing laziness of servants, pros and cons of marriage, perils of the court, and the need to be watchful of nubile daughters. On the other hand, Pedrolino and Arlecchino would see the world differently, while the exchange of lovers would be amorous (Gordon, 19 83). 

Influence on M odern T heatre 

The effect of this theatre form has had far - reaching influences on modern theatre . This is mainly due to its rich repertoire of stock characters such as Pulcinella , which ha ve been modified to various characters such as the famous ‘Punch' in the ‘Punch and Judy' shows in England. The other stock characters that live on in modern comedy include the like s of Harlequin and Pantalone which exist in various modern comical character . Other aspects of this theatre form have been infused in Victorian Shakespearean theatre (Goldoni, 1961). Commedia Dell’ Arte also brings to modern theatre hidden staging such as hidden doors and places on the stage where actors cold hide (Freeman, 2013) . Commedia has inspired many theatre forms in addition to Shakespearean theatre . T hese include other theatre forms such as o pera, Moliere, and musical theatre. The slapstick, which is a prop used by the character Arlecchino in C ommedia D ell’ Arte to provoke laughter by producing a sound of someone being slapped has been passed on into the modern theatre. This has given rise to a sub - genre referred to as slapstick comedy . This comedy is based on deliberately clumsy actions and exaggerated physical activity . It includes the popular animated series, ‘The Simpsons' by Matt Groening and "Mr Bean' performed by Rowan Atkinson. The controlled movements of comm e dia and the biomechanics developed by Meyerhold have been incorporated in numerous modern comedy productions such as used b y Rowan Atkinson in ‘ Mr. Bean. ’ In ‘ Mr. Bean, ’ these controlled movements include slight gestures such as a flick of the wrist or ankle to make it look slightly out of place or jerky ; walking with arms close to the body ; and swinging elbows out slightly. These kinds of gestures combined with the fact that Mr. Bean rarely speaks or the fact that he uses only one word the whole time makes for highly remarkable comedy. The other artefact of commedia to be found in modern comedy is the mask or use of facial expressions as a surrogate for the mask . O ne of the best example s is the facial expressions in ‘ Mr. Bean ’ or the animated facial expressions in ‘The Simpsons’.

Conclusion 

Commedia Dell' Arte has been influenced by medieval theatre art forms of Greco-Roman origin and in turn, it continue s to influence modern comedy through the infusion of various aspects borrowed from commedia. Various components peculiar to commedia such as stock characters, masks, controlled movements, and the slapstick continue to persist in modern comedy and to be used to produce a comic effect. Thus, overall, the importance of Commedia Dell’ Arte cannot be overemphasized to date. 

References 

Duchartre, P . L. (1966) . The Italian Comedy. Dover Publ ications . Print (E-Book) 

Freeman, L. A. (2013).  Character's Theater: Genre and Identity on the Eighteenth-Century English Stage . University of Pennsylvania Press. Print (E-Book). 

Gordon, M. (1983).  Lazzi: the comic routines of the Commedia dell'Arte . Performing Arts Journal Publications . Print (E-Book). 

Goldoni, C. ( 1961 ).  Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters . Heinemann . Print (E-Book). 

Henke, R., & Nicholson, E. (Eds.). (2014).  Transnational mobilities in early modern theater . Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. 

Jordan, P. (201 4 ).  The venetian origins of the commedia dell'Arte . Routledge. 

Mittman, B. G. (1982). The Stage in the 18th Century. Theatre Journal , 34 (4): 553-554 . doi: 10.2307/3206837 

Simpson, T., Fava, A., & Gherpelli, J. (2007).  The comic mask in the commedia dell’arte: actor training, improvisation, and the poetics of survival . Northwestern University Press. 

Wittig, S. (1974). Toward a Semiotic Theory of the Drama.  Educational Theatre Journal ,  26 (4), 441-45 4. 

18th-Century Theatre. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/0-9/18th-century-theatre/