Tag Archives: Commedia dell arte

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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Size and visual narrating

It’s important to be seen when playing on the street. Therefore we must be big and distinct in movement. We must always make sure that we communicate on such a large distance that we, not only attract audiences to come … 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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Distance as acting style in Commedia dell’Arte

Commedia dell’Arte is always played with a sense of distance. It comes from the stylizing of the mask, the size of play, the use of mask, loose phalluses and other deformities of the body, the actor’s energy and the simplicity … 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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What we really know about Commedia dell’Arte (Part 1)

No one can say what a Commedia dell’Arte show really looked like in the renaissance. Neither do we know about the relations between the actors and the rest of the population or what is myth and what is true in … 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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Lazzo in Commedia dell’Arte

This might be the most known term in Commedia dell’Arte, though it is hardly known at all to those who are not involved in Commedia dell’Arte. It is not used anywhere else, but very often used in Commedia dell’Arte. What … Read the rest of this entry

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Canovaccio in Commedia dell’Arte

If we go back to the heydays of Commedia dell’Arte the concept of canovaccio becomes more complicated. It was used both as a full scenario or just a plotline in a scenario. The word means “what’s on the canvas”. But … Read the rest of this entry

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The scenario in Commedia dell’Arte (Part 2)

The scenes in a scenario changes as a new mask enters the stage, but not when a mask leaves the stage. Let’s call this Italian scene division in contrast to French scene division, where they change scenes in both entries … Read the rest of this entry

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