Tag Archives: clowns

What is a mask?

A mask can be anything from a small clown nose to giant heads to be worn on big gantries. It can sometimes be hard to tell the difference between masks and puppets, make-up, costume, even props. I would define a … Read the rest of this entry

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Vulgar Comedy and the Church (Part 5 – Opposition to theatre and comedy)

In the sixteenth century we also see how puritanism gain power and how and the Counter Reformation takes place. They wanted to purify the popular culture. They tried to stop the carnival and official festivities, since they though that the … Read the rest of this entry

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Vulgar Comedy and the Church (Part 3 – the Corpus Christi and the forming of comedy companies)

One example of how the theatre was used by the church was in the nativity scene. The first one was shown in 1223 by Francisco of Assisi. From the first puppets where used but soon the roles were played by … Read the rest of this entry

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Vulgar Comedy and the Church (Part 4 – the Diavolas)

The Corpus Christi was celebrated with carnival festivities, comical rites and dramatic performances. It was not just the performance it was just as much the feast itself. In the long run people got tired of long serious plays. They wanted … Read the rest of this entry

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Vulgar Comedy and the Church (Part 2 – the Feast of the Ass and the Feast of Fools)

The church was not just a religious building during the middle ages and the renaissance. It was also a cultural center where one could very well be engaged in worldly matters, despite protests from the priests. For example the cathedral … Read the rest of this entry

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Vulgar Comedy and the Church (Part 1)

In Rome “the Christian” started to show up as a character in the ancient mime by the time Christianity makes its entry. He soon became one of the most acclaimed, comic roles. The roman mime was mocking the Christian ceremonies, … Read the rest of this entry

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The origins of mask (Part 2 – From rites to early plays)

As we humans settled down, started to cultivate the earth and become domiciled other rites and festivities started to develop. It was harvest, fertility, initiation or transition rites among other. Those rites demanded more human masks, representing human types such … Read the rest of this entry

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Carnival and the popular feast (Part 5 – From the May feast to comedy)

From the material that are available there are lots of examples from primitive sketches to more sophisticated plays that can stand by their own, but have been a specific part of a wedding or another official feast. Let’s see a … Read the rest of this entry

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Carnival and the popular feast (Part 4 – From the May feast to comedy)

The carnival was the only one of the festivals that followed such a strict standard scenario all over Europe. There were also other main characters in the festivities, such as King of Fools, Re de Maggio, Verde Giorio even Robin … Read the rest of this entry

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Carnival and the popular feast (Part 3 – The structure of the celebration)

The carnival started by electing a king of the carnival, who would rule the town or village through the festivities. It was often the village idiot or someone with low status in the town, usually with a grotesque or diabolic … Read the rest of this entry

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