Commedia dell'Arte

What is Commedia dell’Arte?

Commedia dell’arte started as the “vulgarisation” of the Commedia Erudita, comedies written in Roman times and the Middle
Ages and not easily accessible to all classes. Commedia dell’arte actors used the intrigues, both comic and tragic, of what was
to audiences a very familiar form, as a starting point for their characters and parodies.

Commedia dell’arte fully developed in the 16th century in the north-eastern part of Italy and went on until the end of 18th
century becoming one of the most loved and influential theatrical styles. Scholars have defined an official site and date for its
birth: Padova, 1546. That year a group of actors approached a solicitor to sign a contract for mutual support in case of illness
and for financial help in their old age: that date also certifies the birth of the acting profession as we know it today in Western
Europe.

Also known as Arte all’Improvviso, commedia dell’arte started with the first characters, Zanni, the servants playing the Zannata
(“The Zanni’s Comedy”): physical and comical, it featured simpleton servants as well as emigrants from the mountains close to
Bergamo, coming to affluent Venice looking for the fine life, and instead finding the hardship of famine and exploitation.

The Zannata became incredibly popular and other fixed characters developed: Pantalone, the rich and mean Venetian
merchant; the Doctor, a pretentious illustrious know-it-all Professor from Bologna, town of the oldest European University; the
numerous Female servants (Fantesca and then Franceschina, Diamantina, Colombina) who introduced the Actress; the
Lovers, spoiled and in love with no one but themselves; The Capitano, a mercenary soldier, but in reality a coward; and then
La Signora, Pulcinella, Arlecchino, Tartaglia, Brighella and so many more.

Many troupes flourished and toured in theatres and courts all over Europe and their actors and actresses invented their own
“masks” or characters, becoming the Divas of their time. Perhaps the most famous was Isabella Andreini, who gave her name
to one of the most well known Female Lovers. With their characteristic half leather masks or their own strong make up
(Tiberio Fiorillo, the man behind Scaramouche, declined to wear a mask), these characters and their intrigues influenced
the writing of Goldoni, Shakespeare and Moliere, to name but a few. These writers often adapted the works of Canovacci,
commedia scenarios, or the characters in these plays. Romeo and Juliet, for instance, comes directly from a Commedia
scenario, La Creduta Morta, even though in Shakespeare the story turns into a tragedy.

But what can Commedia dell’Arte give us today, besides great and demanding physical training for actors, the economic clarity
of movement of the mask and funny plots? These strong timeless characters are still around us, and audiences still laugh at
their lust for life, their fight for survival, their anguish, betrayals, defeats and love affairs, showing us that they are still alive and
kicking.

Paola Cavallin