- 16th century
- Masters of improvisation rooted in physical training
- One stock character per actor (archetypes)
- Improvise around scenarios embellish basic plot outline with physical routines known as lazzi
- Virtuoso linguistic digressions (verbal riffs of standup comedians)
- "A model for improvisatory and movement oriented performance"
- Actor centered theatre (acrobatics, body training, improvisation, ensemble, staging techniques)
- Street psychology
- Through comedy, we can glimpse tragedy (Charlie Chaplin)
- Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Marx brothers
- Le Jeu of Lecoq
- Driving force is not what to play but how it should be played
- Grammalot
Characters
- Pantalone - chicken - about suspicion
- middle-aged or elderly man; rich, greedy, miserly
- a father who competes romantically with his son
- a husband deceived by a young wife
- an overly-protective father guarding his young daughter from suitors
- turkey, cockerel, chicken
- Dottore - pig
- elderly gentleman
- friend, sometimes rival of Pantalone
- originally a law professor, alter a medical man lacking common sense
- ancestor of absent-minded professor
- master of double talk and jargon, stutterer like priest in Princess Bride
- studies everything; understands nothing
- pretentious
- Arlecchino/Harlequin - monkey - cat
- Zanni
- usually clever persuaders and schemers
- excellent at ad-libbing and acrobatics
- clever pranksters, agile in mind and body
- illiterate
- source of conflict; reactive not proactive; doesn't think about the consequences
- opposite of Pantalone (too hungry, too tired, not too smart)
- curiosity
- disguises
- hoarse voice
- Zanni - group of birds/penguins/fish (zany ones)
- proto clowns
- preverbal
- like animals
- always sleepy or hungry
- Innamorati/Innamoratae - Oratio and Isabella - less creature like
- Beautifully dressed young loves; speak a refined language
- No mask / lead with a chest
- Parody of ballet
- Use breath and points of lightness
- Capitano - peacock - bloodhound - mastiff
- boastful, cowardly Spaniard who brags of battles never fought and romances never experienced
- braggart
- bullheaded; not smart
- Pulcinella
- humpbacked, doltish male character, sometimes pot-bellied; disfigured
- Zanni
- powerful figure in a way; use violence to achieve his goals
- stupid pretending to be clever or vice versa
- likes to quarrel
- sees everything in his own image
- good at imitating animals and inanimate objects
- Pedrolino; pierrot
- Zanni
- a simple, awkward male character; effeminate, tense, OCD, excitable
- Devil Wears Prada - Stanley Tucci
- butt of the jokes
- doesn't seem to have feelings, but he vents when he's alone
- faithful to his master but is a loner
- often cuckholded
- loves Colombina
- Scaramuccia
- Zanni
- a mustached servant; sometimes clever, sometimes cruel
- Senora - no mask
- bossy, bawdy, offers herself in exchange for money or high status
- vain, proud, goes after men
- forever 29 years old
- kinda like a cougar
- Fontesca/Columbina/Clarice - fox
- serving maid; clever and highspirted flirt; often moving
- the maid, often to the Innamoratae
- Often corresponded with Arlecchino
- Ballet-like movements
- Carries a basket or a tamborine
- Scapino -
- Zanni
- falls in love for fun; flits from one love to another
- playboy
- forgetful
- acts on every impulse
- schemes against old men
- Brighella
- Zanni; kind of like the boss
- cunning, corrupt; leads by fear and manipulation
- kind of like Pulchinella
- knows your weak points and uses them against you
- not a victim
- Cheat up
- Use the physical characteristics of your mask - if you have a big nose, do it with a lot of rooster
- Make the mask come alive
- Don't touch the mask
- Don't be subtle
Lazzi
- Conversations
- Little comic interludes
- Moments of humor grabbed between scenes/during scenes
- "something foolish, witty, or metaphorical in word or action"
- Stage tricks
- Comic stage business
- Comic routines, planned or unplanned, that could be performed in any one of dozens of plays
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