Facts about Commedia dell’arte from your research:

Commedia dell’arte

A 16th century improvised comic form from Italy

Key Terms

Stance: how a character stands

Gait: how a character moves

What are we doing?• Learning the basics of the artform

Commedia dell’Arte

• Recreating some of the characters using the bold, exaggerated body language typical of Commedia dell’arte

• Improvising a short “lazzi” (sketch) using a range of Commedia characters, and speaking in “Gromalot” (gibberish)

“Gromalot”Commedia dell’arte’s gibberish language

Q: What does “gibberish” mean?

A: Nonsense language, uses tone of voice alone rather than words to communicate

Q: Can you think of any examples of characters using gibberish?

A: The farmer from “Shaun the Sheep” is a good example. Watch him in action.

Q: What does he use apart from tone of voice to help communicate his message?

A: Gesture!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odWBuDaDqIs

Using “Gromalot” (gibberish)Q: Why do you think Commedia dell’arte sometimes used “Gromalot” rather than Italian?

A: So the plays could tour to other countries and still be understood!

In pairs, explore how to conduct a simple conversation using “Gromalot”.

Remember the Farmer from Shaun the Sheep: “Gromalot” communicates through TONE OF VOICE and GESTURE, but NO REAL WORDS.Can the audience still work out roughly what you’re saying?

National Theatre:Commedia dell’arte

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJEwuurzDe4

This film is called “Body shapes in Commedia dell’Arte”.

•Watch these acting students working with a Commedia dell’arte specialist from the National Theatre Company in London.•What skills do the students display when exploring the Commedia characters?•Aim to use these skills yourself as we explore these characters!

Pantalone• Lead with NOSE and FINGERTIPS

• Old man, very mean, obsessed with money• Hunched back• Gait is a bird-like walk• Bird-like twitching head • Stance is leaning forward, head looking up,

hands protecting his money bags at waist• “Money, who said money?”• At bad news, or the slightest touch,

Pantalone falls on his back and curls up like a beetle, unable to get up unless someone helps him.

Dottore• Lead with STOMACH• A very bad doctor, able to diagnose

only death or pregnancy• Very fat, stance is leaning back• Hands twiddle on his large stomach• Gait is a waddle, legs far apart, in

figure of eight• Weight on heels• Goldfish mouth• Very pompous, talks (waffles)

constantly

Zanni• LEAD with FOREHEAD

• Servants• Love practical jokes• Stance is a sleeping position, with one leg

resting on the other, leaning on elbow• Gait is a run with knees far apart, hands

held up as if supporting trays, or trudging, as if carrying a large bag

• Stupid, make very basic mistakes• Very lazy, greedy, lusty, clumsy

Arlecchino• Lead with EARS

• “Chancer” servant, listening out• Colombina’s boyfriend• More intelligent than Zannis• Tries to trick his masters but his

plots usually fail• Gait is a zig-zag• Stance is very acrobatic, ready

to run at any moment, knees bent

• Displays cat-like agility

Brighella• LEAD with CHEST

• Head servant• Arrogant• Bossy• In charge of the zannis• In love with himself (womaniser)• A snob – will do anything to

ingratiate himself to the aristocrats (lovers) or the masters (Pantalone and Dottore)

Lovers

• Lead with EYES

• Aristocrats• Very vain, always admiring themselves in the

mirror, adjusting their appearance• Stance is very balletic, like a fashion model’s

pose, elegant• Gait is also very balletic, very light on the feet• Female lover is usually unmarried, daughter of

either Pantalone or Dottore• Male lover is usually handsome but sometimes

poor, and wants to marry the female lover mainly for her money

Capitano• Lead with PELVIS

• A soldier• Claims to have “killed many men, loved

many women.”• Stance is very confident, pelvis forward,

fists on hips, legs wide apart• Gait is a manly stride• When startled, screams like a girl, flaps

hands above head, jumps very high and runs away

Columbina• Lead with HIPS

• Female lover’s MAID• Girlfriend of Arlecchino• Stance is very confident, hands

on hips, shoulders back• Gait is light, quick, efficient,

pretty• The most intelligent character of

all the Commedia roles.• Playful, cheeky, impudent, flirty

Exploring visual comedy: set pieces in Commedia dell’arte• The double take (look quick, look long)

• The comedy run • The comedy fight• The advance (knee-rub)• The faint

Basil Fawlty and Manuel in Fawlty Towers are modern equivalents of Brighella and Zanni.

Make a lazzo: a short, improvised, comic scenario in a Commedia dell’arte play

• Use “gromalot” (gibberish language) which will force you to communicate a lot with body language as well as tone of voice.

• Use the exaggerated Commedia body language for your character (gait & stance)

• Keep the plot SIMPLE.• Remember the differing statuses

of the characters should be very clear.• Try to include some “set pieces” in your lazzi:

• The double take (look quick, look long) • The comedy run • The comedy fight• The advance (knee-rub)• The faint

Homework• Describe how,you played a commedia

dell’arte character in your group’s lazzi. Ensure you include information about about the character’s:

• STANCE

• GAIT

• MANNERISMS (characteristic gestures)

• LEADING BODY PART

• STATUS (in comparison to other characters in the lazzi).

Useful Commedia films

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_0TAXWt8hY

• World of Commedia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6EaoPMANQM

Clip of Basil Fawlty and Manuel (modern day Brighella and Zanni)

Commedia dell’arte and STATUS

The comedy in Commedia dell’arte is entirely generated from situations using characters with differing STATUSES.

Q: What does status mean?

A: How important a character is (or thinks they are) compared to the other characters in the scene. The “pecking order.”

How does this picture illustrate the idea of a “pecking order”?

Commedia dell’arte and STATUS

Imagine a scale of 1-10 across the room. 1 is the lowest status. 10 is the highest status.

As these Commedia characters appear, volunteer to come up and put a number to their status. Of course, you need to demonstrate the stance of that commedia character.

Other Commedia characters may disagree with where you have placed yourself. If this is the case, argue back to defend your position!

.

Status or “pecking order”

Where on the STATUS scale (1=lowest, 10=highest) should these Commedia

characters be?

When we put these characters on the STATUS scale, who put themselves higher than they deserved and were moved down? What does this tell you about the character?

Status range of Commedia characters.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Zanni Arlecchino Brighella Capitano Colombina Pantalone Dottore Lovers

Forehead Ears Chest Pelvis Hips Nose Stomach Eyes

Next, choose characters for a scene that demonstrate a RANGE of different statuses.

Improvise a scene (with conventional speech) in 2s/3s set in a high-class restaurant.

Remember to sustain the exaggerated characterisation of commedia.

Status

We started off working with the Year 8 definition of status which is: “how important a character is.” Think about last lesson’s work on the status of Commedia dell’arte characters, and any other times we have explored status.

Do you now have a more advanced understanding of what status is? E.g.

– What emotions give a character a high status?– What emotions give a character a low status?– Can a character’s intelligence affect their status? – What about Money and status? Job and status?– Is the status of a character fixed, or can it change? Can

is you back this up with an example?

Characterisation

Reflect back on our practical work on instant characters, characters from scripts and characters from Commedia dell’arte.

1.What skills do you feel you have you gained from this practical work?

1.You have known for a while that we are performing pantomimes to primaries in December. How will your work on Commedia dell’arte help you with the new panto project?

Primary Panto Groups

Group OneAladdin

Group 2Peter Pan

Group 3Jack & the Beanstalk

Ellie Gill Bali Hemmings Aaron Nash

Sadie King Rebecca Pegg Oliver Thomas

Solomon Mills Jodie MacPherson Millie Keates

Alexandra Salt Phoebe Bowers Sheona Killeen

Rosie Taylor Emily Derbyshire Caitlin Owen

Clarke Lear Katie Hollamby Bobbi Moore

Summer McCarthy-Ball

What skills are needed for a successful pantomime?

• Does this short video contain any useful advice from the professionals on producing and performing in panto?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owrusD-E-Hg

Random Acts Primary Panto Planning

1. Debate which story you want to base your 10 minute pantomime on. One person in the group should take minutes of the discussion. Remember your target audience is primary school children, and you only have 10-15 minutes of performance time per group.

2. Think about the main characters in the story and how you might CAST those characters from your group. (Remember you can multi-role).

3. Does anyone in your group have specialist skills you could use? Musical instruments? Singing? Dance? Clowning? Mime?

Random Acts Primary Panto Planning

To make your group’s pantomime the best it can be, you need to do some research and forward planning over half term.4.Debate and share out the research and planning tasks on the homework sheet, under the headings: •performance style•costume design•prop design •marketing

Random Acts Primary Panto Project

Aims What’s next?

Mon 4th Nov

1. Compare versions of the story, and decide on the PLOT of your panto. Which events are you keeping in, which ones are you cutting?

2. CAST it. Which characters do you need? Do you need some actors to multi-role?

3. IMPROVISE the whole story.

 Finish improvising the story.

 Thurs 7th Nov

1.Finish improvising the WHOLE story!2.Plan your own hwk – what can you usefully

do independently that will push your panto project forward: costume design/sourcing, poster/flyer design, prop making…

Complete your hwk task: costume design, sourcing/making, poster and flyer design, prop making…some tasks will naturally take longer than others…

Random Acts Primary Panto Project

Aims What’s next?

Mon 11th Nov

1. Inject PANTO acting style into your piece: bold exaggerated characterisation, audience participation, visual comedy, simple clear storytelling, lots of direct address.

2. Complete a run of the story and time it.3. Update your group with how far you’ve

got with your hwk task: costume design, sourcing/making, poster and flyer design, prop making…when will things be ready?

 Time a run of the piece. Needs to be between 12-15 mins. Each group has 20 mins, but this time-slot includes “get-in” and “get-out.”

 Fri15th Nov

1. Time a run of your piece.2. Remember to keep the panto acting

style!3. Discuss what needs cutting/extending4. Action this if necessary.5. Vote on the audience participation song.

Make sure your publicity materials ready for distribution to primary schools next week (posters/flyers).