Commedia dell'arte is a form of theatre characterised by masked "types" which began in Italy in the 16th century and was responsible for the advent of actresses and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios.
The performers played on outside, temporary stages, and relied on various props in place of extensive scenery. The characters of the commedia usually represent fixed social types, stock characters, such as foolish old men, devious servants, or military officers full of false bravado. Characters such as Pantalone, the miserly Venetian merchant; Dottore Graziano, the pedant from Bologna; or Arlecchino, the mischievous servant from Bergamo, began as satires on Italian "types" and became the archetypes of many of the favorite characters of 17th- and 18th-century European theatre.
Commedia Stock Characters
Magnifico
A variant of Pantalone, popular in the late 16th/early 17th centuries. Whereas Pantalone is usually of the merchant class, Magnifico is more likely to be an elected official or aristocrat, but on the whole there is no significant difference between the two characters. His name suggests grace, generosity and command, all of which he lacks.
1st Actress and Actor
Status - High, but brought low by the hopelessness of their infatuation
Physical Appearance - Young and attractive
Mask - No actual mask, but heavy make-up. Mascara and beauty spots for both sexes.
Signature Prop - Handkerchief. Posy. Fan for women.
Stance - They lack firm contact with the earth. Feet invariably in ballet positions, creating an inverted cone. Chest and heart heavy. They are full of breath, but then take little pants on top. Sometimes when situations become too much for them, they deflate totally. Always very proud.
Walk - They do not walk as much as tweeter, due to the instability of their base. First the head leans the other way to the body sway. Then the arms have to be used, one above the other, as a counterweight.
Movement - Actors would use the same dancing masters as the well-to-do whom they were parodying in order to point up the ridiculousness of exaggerated deportment. Movement comes at the point of overbalance leading to a sideways rush towards a new focus, with the arms left trailing behind. Stop at the new point (usually the beloved or some token thereof) before (almost) touching it. The Lovers have little or no physical contact. When there is any, the minimum has maximum effect.
Speech - Tuscan, making great display of courtly words and baroque metaphors. Well read, knowing large extracts of poems by heart (especially Petrarch). They speak softly in musical sentences - in contrast with the zanni. Their sentences are often flamboyant, hyperbolical, full of amorous rhetoric. By the end of the 17th Century in Paris, the Lovers spoke French.
Pantalone
Status - Top of pecking order. Money. Controls finance in the character world of Commedia is therefore his orders are usually obeyed
Physical Appearance - Lean and Scrawny, often short in stature. Early from often has a phallic codpiece
Mask - Long, hooked nose with bushy eyebrows, sometimes also a moustache. Pointed beard just forward as if to meet the nose coming down, thuse giving a very dynamic profile.
Signature Prop - Gold chain around the neck with a large medallion and a dagger. – Rudlin
Carried a ubiquitous handkerchief and a money pouch slung before his genitals.
Stance - His back bends the other way to the zannis, giving him an old man’s stoop, protecting his purse and his penis and effectively restricting the motion of his legs. The feet are together, toes apart, knees well bent and facing apart creating a focus on the crutch. However, early illustrations show a much more vertical basic posture, complemented by an erect phallus nestling next to his dagger. The legs are also much more muscled with the possibility of sustaining extreme forward positions of the torso or making large strides. The Pantalone of the zannata. A genuinely magnifigent figure, but there is no inheritance of how to play Pantalone in this way
Walk - The same as for little zanni, but smaller steps. He can only walk at one pace: whatever his feet do his legs cannot go any faster, whatever the motive or stimulus
Movement - Can mimic those of any other character, but only in a form diminished by age. Sometimes falls flat on his back on hearing bad news (usually financial). Like a beetle, he cannot then right himself
Speech - The actor who assumes this role should have at his fingertips a complete command of the Venetian dialect with all of its variations, proverbs and phrases
Doctor
Status - Head of another family. Pantalone with brains that can be quite annoying.
Physical Appearance - He is grande, even grandissimo: his huge size comes directly from Carnival and contrasts with Pantalone. Later French types became lean pedants, reptilian like Moliere’s Tartuffe.
Mask - Covers the nose and forehead only. The actor’s cheeks are thus revealed and often reddened to show Il’ Dottore’s fondness for the bottle. According to Goldoni the mask itself has a bibulous orgin: ‘the idea of the singular mask which covers his face and nose, was taken from a wine stain which disfigured the countenance of a jurist-consult of those times
Signature Props - Book and a white handkerchief.
Stance - Weight back on heels, belly forward, hands gesturing in front. The later French pedants is more dapper and leans forward from the waist.
Walk - Walks peripatetically in figures of eight, using tiny, mincing steps. His walking posture descends while he thinks (out loud, of course) and rises up again on the solution of the problem. The later French version walks like a lizard, leaning forward, using his head.
Movement - Relatively static in front of the audience.
Speech - ‘Parps’ like a trombone. Pronounces ‘S’ as ‘Sh’. Speaks a mixture of Bolognese dialect, Italian and Latin, known as minestrone. Later French types fussy in their elocution.
Columbia
Status - Personal Maid to one of the lovers
Physical Appearance - Initially strong and attractive like a circus artist, later petite and pretty.
Mask - she often wears a mask that usually just covers her eyes
Signature Props - Usually has an apron, a basket, and a tambourine
Stance - One knee bent, the other leg extended. Slight forward tilt from the hips to show best features. Tiny waist and wide hips.
Walk - Little flick of the foot at end of grand zanni walk.
Movement - All zanni movements, in any combination. Movement continues during speaking, shifting balance from one foot to the other and moving the head sharply as if searching for someone other than the person being addressed. Fast and nimble in order to escape unwanted attentions or butt in, then escape from a situation.
Speech - Sharp, gossipy, with frequent variations of pitch. Originally Tuscan, but could be any other dialect.
Brighella
An ill-tempered but intelligent zanni, he is known to be dangerous and may even commit murders or other violent crimes. He is selfish and opportunistic -- as is the case with many of the stock characters -- but unlike the other zanni who are often stupid or at least gullible, Brighella is cunning and can manipulate circumstances in ways that would be beyond the other characters; any failure of his schemings will usually be due to bad luck on his part, rather than any real problem with his plan. He traditionally shows no real sense of honor, and will rob his dearest friend if he finds the chance; and only demonstrates loyalty to others if he discovers it to be to his own best advantage. His name comes from an old Italian word that means "brawl" and so in English his name could be rendered as Brawley. His costume was usually white with green trimmings, and his mask an olive-color or (less-commonly) brown, with a hooked nose. Duchartre describes his traditional hat as a toque with a green border, though most illustrations seem to show Brighella with a peasant's bonnet sometimes called a "muffin hat", similar to what most other zanni commonly wear.
Harlequino
Perhaps the most popular and definitely best-known of the commedia characters. There are many dubious etymologies of his name, often linking him to mythical beings or spirits, but no one can say for sure whence the word originates. My own best guess, based on information available to me, is that it comes from Frankish karalchin, or "little man" (cognate to the names Karl and Charles.) Harlequin's early costume was a kind of unitard or jumpsuit decorated with patches, meant to indicate a garment so ragged it was more patches than real material. Over time it evolved into the diamond or triangle pattern that has come to distinguish him. Later versions show him in a two-piece outfit made from a shirt and pants. Interestingly, his outfit has always been belted around the hips, instead of at the waist. Harlequin is traditionally portrayed by a physically agile actor and makes use of slapstick and stunts. His character is often not particularly bright though the extremes to which this is taken vary by the scenario. He wears a dark brown or black colored mask, sometimes with a beard or mustache attached. Old style Harlequins often wore a hat made from a dead animal, though from the eighteenth century on a bicorn or tricorn hat has become traditional. Another attribute of Harlequin is a wooden prop -- usually a wooden sword or a wooden stick (originally a slapstick, but later evolutions show it as just a walking stick or cane.)
Captain
Status - A loner. Il’Capitano is never indigenous to the town where the scenario is set and is able to pretent to high status as a result. His downfall to the level of actual social standing is an essential part of the denoument.
Physical Appearance - Large, whether physically or egotistically, he is a large presence on stage. Designed to attract attention from women and intimidate men.
Mask - ong nosed crocodile mask. – Fletcher
Long nose, often unambiguously phallic. – Rudlin
The mask of the earliest Captains was flesh-colored, and had a great menancing nose which served as the keynote to their character. It was also provided with fierce, bristling moustaches, which seemed like vertable iron spikes defending the entrance to a citadel only too ready to capitulate. The mask, in its general aspect, was intended to emphasize the contrast between a brave appearance and a craven nature. The war-masks of negro-tribes were designed for the same purpose.
Signature Prop - Sword that he never actually uses for fighting.
Stance - Feet planted apart in order to occupy maximum space, chest pushed forward, back straight, hips wide
Walk - Mountain walk: the heels of his high boots come down first, then the foot rolls on to the ball. Straight back, unlike zanni. Big strides. Step off on ball of foot giving lift and bounce to step. Feet on ground, head in clouds. (Rises up with each step so head comes above clouds in order to see!) The actual steps are small (he is in no hurry to get to war, but wants to do so with maximum effect)
Movement - Slow, deliberate and mechanical.
Speech - Loud basso profoundo, turning to castrato squeak when frightened
Zanni
Status - Bottom of pecking order. Zanni is that regrettably eternal unfortuante, the dispossessed immigrant worker.
Mask - Originates in the full-face Carnival mask parodying afacchino, but, with the development of the short plays known as Zannata, with improvised dialogue between Pantalone and various zanni, the bottom had to be hinged and was finally cut away altogether. As with other Commedia characters, the longer Zanni's nose, the more stupid he is.
Signature Props - Temporary custodian of anything (especially bags, letters, valuables, food, etc.) that belonds to someone else.
Stance - as a lowered center of gravity; either because he comes from the earth, or as a result of carrying heavy bags and sedan chairs. Zanni stands with an arched back, with his knees bent and apart and his feet splayed. The support knee is bent with the other leg extended, toe pointed. He changes feet repeatedly while talking or listening within the same position and without his head bobbing up and down. The elbows are bend and the arms half lifted. Vertical sleeping is done standing on one bent leg eith the other foot crossed over to the knee. The support side arm crosses the waist to support the other elbow, the arm of which goes vertically up so the palm can provide a prop for the nodding head.
Walk - this is a development of the basic stance, foot changing but taking a small step forward on each shift. The shoulders down, elbows forward, feet pointed. The knees come high off the ground and to the side. Use a two-time rhythm in even beats with the head pecking like a chicken, but still without bobbing up and down. Zanni uses this walk when going somewhere, but with no great purpose.
Movement - Dynamic, exaggerated, the head constantly moving independently of body. The quicker-thinker zanni are more agile and their shorter noses permit them to do acrobatics.
Speech - Loud, open-mouthed: The coarsened voice of someone who makes an outdoor living by making themselves heard in a market or a busy street.
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