Tag Archives: comedy

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 2021-04-06 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 2021-03-13 by Micke Klingvall

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 →

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Posted on 2021-03-07 by Micke Klingvall

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 →

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Posted on 2021-03-07 by Micke Klingvall

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 →

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Posted on 2021-03-05 by Micke Klingvall

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 →

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