Category Archives: 1 Commedia dell’Arte

Posted on 2021-10-18 by Micke Klingvall

Dottore and Signora marrying away their daughter

Here is an example from ”Where´s the Book?” from 2014. Sign:          In, singing. Dott:          Signora, my most adorable honey-pie! Welcome up on the stage, my little crumb of cake. Sign:          Hi to you, slouch. Dott:          I have talked to Pantalone … Read the rest of this entry →

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Posted on 2021-10-13 by Micke Klingvall

Goldoni and the end of an era (Part 4)

It is from this Von-oben-perspective, which we discussed in PART 3 that the bourgeois once again met with the old culture of laughter and vulgar comedy, sometime in the middle of the nineteenth century.  It was naturally still alive and … Read the rest of this entry →

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Posted on 2021-09-27 by Micke Klingvall

Goldoni and the end of an era (Part 2)

When Goldoni did replace the Commedia dell’Arte actor’s improvisations and whims with a ready written text he did not just kill the life in the words that came in the encounter with the audience, ha also changes Commedia dell’Arte into … Read the rest of this entry →

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Posted on 2021-09-08 by Micke Klingvall

Women in Commedia dell’Arte (Part 2)

There are a couple of ways to let women wear masks in Commedia dell’Arte even though it is not conventional. Many of the masks are more or less gender neutral, especially in a modern context, such as Arlecchino or Zanni. … Read the rest of this entry →

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Posted on 2021-09-01 by Micke Klingvall

Women in Commedia dell’Arte (Part 1)

We have to start with admitting that Commedia dell’Arte was a very masculine form of theatre, at least if we see it from today’s perspective. It sprung out in a time when women, in the greater parts of Italy, just … Read the rest of this entry →

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Posted on 2021-05-26 by Micke Klingvall

A tribute to life

“It [Commedia dell’Arte] owed everything to the actor, very little to drama or literature. It trained its own players, created its own conditions, travelled with its own costumes and properties, sometimes with portable stage.”                        From “The Theatre – a Concise … Read the rest of this entry →

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Posted on 2021-04-21 by Micke Klingvall

Commedia dell’Arte masks design, materials and costume

The masks in Commedia dell’Arte are, unlike Greek, Balinese or Japanese masks for instance, always half masks. They are not bigger than that they cover just the upper part of the face. They are not big enough to manifest themselves … Read the rest of this entry →

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Posted on 2021-04-06 by Micke Klingvall

The end of the heydays of Commedia dell’Arte (Part 2)

The other main reason to the decline of Commedia dell’Arte – the degeneration of the actors and art of Commedia dell’Arte – is that Commedia dell’Arte got stuck in its form and became static.As Commedia dell’Arte became more and more … Read the rest of this entry →

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Posted on 2021-03-22 by Micke Klingvall

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 →

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Posted on 2021-03-16 by Micke Klingvall

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 →

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