Tag Archives: carnival

The Stage

Traditionally a Commedia dell’Arte stage was used to be a banco, made of wood, about two meters tall and not much bigger than a horse driven cart, about 3 x 4 meters. It usually had a simple backdrop and where … Read the rest of this entry

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Disciplines in Commedia dell’Arte

Commedia dell’Arte is sprung from a time long before circus and theatre were divided as separate genres, when all sorts of stage disciplines could be played on the same stage without one having to be better or more refined than … Read the rest of this entry

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Improvisation in Commedia dell’Arte (Part 1)

How much in a Commedia dell’Arte show during the renaissance that was improvised is something we will never know. What we know is that a lot was written down: lazzi, burle, some monologues and dialogs, battute, concetti and we can … Read the rest of this entry

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Sexfiaskon och en stol (Sex/six-failures and a chair)

Text and directing – Micke Klingvall Zanni – Yosefin Bouhler Pantalone – Per Mollan Flavio – Mårten Gunnarsson Flavia – Malin Andersson Capitano – Axel Boberg Signora – Manuela Bjelke Click here to see a trailer of Sexfiaskon och en Stol. This was a fall … Read the rest of this entry

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Commercialism in Commedia dell’Arte (Part 1)

Commedia dell’Arte is commercial by nature. One of the earliest names on Commedia dell’Arte was Commedia Merceraria (One of the many early names it has). The troupes played it in order to make money as any profession would. Commedia dell’Arte … Read the rest of this entry

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No 4:th wall in Commedia dell’Arte (Part 3)

We can take in the audience in the performance either as an organism in itself or turn to different individuals in the audience. The show becomes a play between the audience and the masks on stage. In this play the … Read the rest of this entry

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Tempo or rhythm

Commedia dell’Arte is always fast, it is always moving forward and there are no dead moments in it. Except from the fact that it is comedy and it requires a comedy tempo, it is a consequence of that it is … Read the rest of this entry

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Grotesque as an acting style in Commedia dell’Arte

The acting style in Commedia dell’Arte is very crude and rough, especially in early Commedia dell’Arte. The masks can be tremendously grotesque; the plots plain vulgar; situations – burlesque. Over time Commedia dell’Arte got more refined, soon it had become … Read the rest of this entry

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What we really know about Commedia dell’Arte (Part 2)

Except from the fact that almost all that is written about Commedia dell’Arte from the renaissance is either from what is played in the castles and palaces for nobles and the learned or it is written by priests who had … Read the rest of this entry

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Prolog or opening in Commedia dell’Arte

The introduction to a Commedia dell’Arte show in very important. It does not only have to present the different masks so that a modern audience will know them at an early stage in the show, it must also introduce the … Read the rest of this entry

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