Monthly Archives: mars 2021

Commedia dell’Arte – the Name

The term Commedia dell’Arte was not used during the renaissance. It was used for the first time, the way we do today, in the eighteen century by Luigi Riccoboni in his book Histoire du Theatre Italien from 1728. At that … Read the rest of this entry

Filed in 1 Commedia dell'Arte | Comment Now

Goldoni and the end of an era (Part 3)

During the end of the eighteenth century, when the bourgeois comedy had been well established and taken over the theatre scene, Commedia dell’Arte and the vulgar laughter started to be looked at as something quaint and exotic. As new middle-class … Read the rest of this entry

Filed in 1 Commedia dell'Arte, 2 Vulgar Comedy | 1 Comment

Goldoni and the end of an era (Part 1)

Let us use Goldoni to explain how Commedia dell’Arte died out in the middle of the eighteenth century, with the background we already discussed here in mind. Not that we really can accuse Goldoni for being the killer of Commedia … Read the rest of this entry

Filed in 1 Commedia dell'Arte | 2 Comments

To compose a Commedia dell’Arte group in the sixteenth century

To compose a Commedia dell’Arte group was a highly delicate task. Some masks were needed in order to fill out the usual scenarios. But one couldn’t just chose the best actors. One had to think about that the actors should … Read the rest of this entry

Filed in 1 Commedia dell'Arte | Comment Now

Playing Commedia dell’Arte indoors

When playing indoors some things work a little different. Lightning for instance has to be as “flat” as possible, meaning that the ligthning has to be coming from a low point. That is to have the eyes of the mask … Read the rest of this entry

Filed in 1 Commedia dell'Arte | Comment Now

The end of the heydays of Commedia dell’Arte (Part 3)

There are lots of descriptions about how Commedia dell’Arte degenerated even though many are of the type: “everything has changed to worse”. We can see here how the aging Francesco Gabrielli, who had led a good life as actor in … Read the rest of this entry

Filed in 1 Commedia dell'Arte | 1 Comment

The end of the heydays of Commedia dell’Arte (Part 1)

“Acuity and rationalism does not thrive together with lush and warming jocularity, the humor of rationalism easily becomes merciless satire, as in Voltair for example.”                             Harry Järv, in the pretext to The Very Horrific Life of Great Gargantua It is often … Read the rest of this entry

Filed in 1 Commedia dell'Arte | 1 Comment

Desiosi (The Desired) 1581 – 1603

They are first heard of in Pisa 1581.One of the reasons webring up Desiosi is that they were led by a woman, Diana Ponti, and were often called “Dianas Troup”. She was much celebrated and often the main attraction. Diana … Read the rest of this entry

Filed in 1 Commedia dell'Arte | Comment Now

A Dottore monologue

This monologue is not really a Scrolquio since it is tied to the plot in this particular play, Käbbel, that I wrote in 2019.It was originally played in Swedish. ”Dott:     In Oh see such a fetching audience! Just see, all this … Read the rest of this entry

Filed in 1 Commedia dell'Arte, Example texts | Comment Now

Commedia dell’Arte troupes in comparison with the Elizabethan theatre

Even though the Commedia dell’Arte actors were professional they could not live on their art itself. They had to find other ways were they could use their craft to survive, just like many struggling theatre groups today. While the successful … Read the rest of this entry

Filed in 1 Commedia dell'Arte | Comment Now