Tag Archives: Kulturama

Charlatano and the square in Commedia dell’Arte (Part 1)

In the marketplace, that had its own popular, unofficial laws impregnated by an atmosphere of freedom from severity; where yelling peddlers, the Cris de Paris and merry citizens “entertained the public in loud swearing duels, rhythmic chants, organized festive performances … Read the rest of this entry

Filed in 2 Vulgar Comedy | 2 Comments

The language of the marketplace

A street vendor starts to call out his products in the square. The peddler in the booth beside him starts to yell out his products even louder in order to be heard and get anything sold. It works well. A … Read the rest of this entry

Filed in 2 Vulgar Comedy | 5 Comments

Grammelot

The onomatopoetic, language mimicking, voice illustrating, sound that Dario Fo calls Grammelot was born in France when the Commedia dell’Arte actors where antagonized by the church in Italy during the counterreformation. They turned to Europe instead, but not only to … Read the rest of this entry

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

A Servetta’s prolog

Here is a prolog by a Servetta from Domenico Brunis, from 1621, in my translation from Swedish. This might be one of the most used prologs today. It is one of the few saved prologs that are dramatic and can … Read the rest of this entry

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

The roots to all western popular comedy

I see Commedia dell’Arte as the roots to all western popular comedy. There are naturally roots to Commedia dell’Arte as well, but if we see it as the first professional form of theatre in Europe and if we consider that … Read the rest of this entry

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

Stage strategies (Part 1)

Whether we believe in Commedia dell’Arte as in totally improvised genre or not, there is always an element of improvisation in it. As an actor one can only be in control of two other elements at the same time. One … Read the rest of this entry

Filed in 1 Commedia dell'Arte | 3 Comments

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

Filed in 1 Commedia dell'Arte | 3 Comments

Acrobatics as a discipline in Commedia dell’Arte

Acrobatics and slapstick (together with the music) may be the most used discipline in Commedia dell’Arte. They work with symmetries, physical turns or physically exaggerated reactions or positions. Acrobatics is a way to stylize and it is used, just as … 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

Filed in Acting style, Disciplines | 5 Comments

Improvisation in Commedia dell’Arte (Part 3)

Much of the art in playing Commedia dell’Arte has to do with being constantly on the alert, always ready to jump in to the action or leave space for another mask. This does not just apply when we are on … Read the rest of this entry

Filed in Acting style | 2 Comments