Comedia Dell’ Arte Assessment Task!
Brainstorm
Today in class we began to brainstorm process for our History of Theatre Assessment Task. We first began to think about what and how we are able to incorporate as many characters as possible. We considered having a classic wedding gone wrong because at a wedding we can add many characters and Zanni as possible. The basic plot that we came up with was that Isabella is getting married to Flavio but Pantalone wants Isabella to marry someone else so he goes to Brighella to buy a love potion. Meanwhile at the party, a witch curses the wedding to be ruined and the Zanni begin to become rowdy and make many mistakes. Pantalone loses the potion and Arlecchino drinks it by accident. This causes Arlecchino to fall in love with another character. That is as much as we got to in class. Our piece will take place in the slightly dated 1900s because we thought that this was an era where we can toy and play around with different ideas . Our setting will be mostly at a wedding chapel but some of it will be set in the witches’ woods. We have continued to advance through the second lesson and have completed our brainstorm sheet. The characters we thought to include were: Isabella, Pantalone, Il Dottore, Il Capitano, Columbina, Tatahglia, Arlecchino, The Witch and other Zanni like mouse and bird.
Research
I have begun to do some research on videos and plots we could use for our stimulus material. Here are the links:
Role in Group
The role that I was assigned in my group was to organise costumes and props. This involved me to create a list of the items we would need for the characters and plot. For example, we have a scene where Isabella is trying on wedding dresses for her wedding that falls at the end of the play. For this scene we would need multiple dresses for Isabella, differing in quality and price. It would also be important that some actors have easy changeable costumes to swap behind the screen to allow the play to flow without major pause. Especially for the actor who played Brighella (the merchant) and the Witch because one scene ends with the witch on stage and starts with Brighella on stage. I resolved this issue by minimising the mass amount of costume these specific actors had to allow a quick change to be easy and stress free. Here is the list of props and costumes I began with and then refined to our final product.
Props/ Costumes – Finn
Isabella – Finn (Scheme: Pink+White)
- White dress
- Feathers
- Makeup
- Necklace (gold and pearls)
- Brunette Wig with blonde highlights/accents
- Flowers (white roses with pink peonies)
- Shawl with tight gigot sleeves
- Compact
- Corset
Pantalone – Leith (Scheme: Black+Red)
- Black cape
- Red, loose clothing
- Neat clothing
- Pocket watch
- Money
Il Capitano – Caleb (Scheme: Yellow+Red OR Green+Blue)
- Sword and sheath
- Excessive, brightly coloured clothing (red, yellow/ blue and green)
Tartaglia – Oscar (Scheme: Green+Yellow)
- Green clothing
- Book (Bible)
- Rings
- Yellow hat (not gold)
Il Dottore – Tim (Scheme: Black+White)
- White clothing
- Black tophat
- Large book
The Witch – Sam (Scheme: Grey+Green/White)
- Grey Rags
- White, long wig
- Green rope
- Love potion
Columbina – Tim (Scheme: Pink+Blue)
- Maid, style dress (Red/ white)
- Red floral headpiece
- Corset
- Shawl with gigot sleeves
- Matching apron
Mouse Zanni – Oscar (Scheme: Beige)
- Beige rags
- Letter to witch from Il Dottore
- Brown rope
Arlecchino – Caleb (Scheme: Any, dull)
- Food
- Dull coloured clothing
- Large bowtie
- Oversized Beret
Bird Zanni – Finn (Scheme: Navy)
- Navy blue rags
- Black rope
- Potion ingredients
Brighella – Sam (Scheme: White and Green)
- White clothing with green accents
- Green beret with white accents
Overall Props
- Wedding dresses
- Potion bottles
- Flowers
- Cake
- Rings
- Plate / tray for wine trick with Arlecchino.
Characters Played
In this performance I was assigned two characters to play in our piece. The two characters that were to be played by me in our play were:
Isabella
The role of Isabella is the most important role in the play. She is about to marry Pantalone for his money but is in the middle of an argument with her father Il Dottore because he does not want her to marry Pantalone because Pantalone hasn’t payed Il Dottore the bribe to marry Isabella. Isabella is then put under a trance from the love potion and ends up marrying Il’ Capitano. To successfully I would have to be able to fully embody the character and constantly stay on my toes
Bird Zanni
The role of the Bird Zanni is to be the evil henchman of the Witch. We as a group decided to make this role very minor because Isabella is a big role and it would be hard for me to play both often. For me to play Bird Zanni correctly, I would need to ensure that I keep a low centre of gravity and always look up to the Witch, even when she is not on a podium. Bird Zanni does not need to be kept in “Reporto” (Mask faces the front) because his long, beak like nose has a bigger effect when put on it’s side. The Bird Zanni also must constantly be mesmerised and intrigued my the intruder looking for the love potion (Mouse Zanni). This can be effectively done by sniffing and looking at him up and down as if I am an animal and meeting someone new.
Order of Events
Our group decided to create our piece in true Commedia fashion and just improvise our whole play with just a scenario. This means we had no set script but just scenarios and one line descriptions of what each scene entails. Here are our order of events and scenarios.
Prologue
– Split concetti: Pantalone saying how he loves Isabella then Arlecchino comes in eating the wedding cake. Isabella talks about her love for Pantalone’s money for her needs.
– Brighella shouting at zanni’ for wedding issues.
– Finding a dress
– Pantalone argues with Il Dottore
– Il Dottore gets angry from Pantalone. Wants to ruin wedding.
– Father daughter time. Concetti.
– Isabella storms off and Il Dottore asks Mouse zanni to go to witch for a way to break up the wedding (love potion).
– Mouse zanni meets witch and witch makes love potion. Mouse zanni gives potion to Il Capitano.
– Il Capitano storms into wedding and makes Isabella fall in love with him.
– Pantalone gets angry.
– Isabella wants wedding done now.
– Il Capitano runs away from wedding after being scared by Brighella.
– Epilogue
Prologue and Epilogue
We believe that our prologue and epilogue successfully tells the audience what happens throughout the play. Here is our Prologue and Epilogue
Prologue:
A wedding planned
A strife at hand
Pantalone is set to marry
Yet still Dottore is ever wary.
To Dottore’s anger, Pantalone’s money is depleted
This leads to Dottore feeling inordinately cheated.
When he realises
A sly trick he conspires
With the help of his counterpart
He gains a potion of the heart
Il Capitano looks for a chance
Isabella is under a trance.
Epilogue
Brighella makes a frightening scare
Capitano runs without self care.
Isabella thinks he was the one
But that was all love potion fun
Il Dottore accepts his win
Pantalone lowers his chin
(Tartaglia) T-t-the end!
Applause
Music
The music that we are using for our performance was found by our group member Oscar. Here is the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrS1UqEPJfQ
Rehearsal Reflections
- Our first rehearsal we were still focusing on trying to get the plot together and therefore we were un successful in creating and beginning to devise our piece
- In our second session we focused on creating and improvising our first starting scenes. We began by looking at the introduction after the prologue between Isabella and Pantalone where one (Pantalone) is looking for love and two (Isabella) is looking to fulfil her love for money. We had to create the right levels and space to seem like they weren’t in the same room but could somehow hear what the other was saying during their concetti. We also worked on the scene where Isabella is looking for a wedding dress where Pantalone must pay for the most expensive dress made by the nuns in the Himalayas.
- After our second rehearsal, we decided to rehearse after school. Only 3 out of the 6 actors actually showed up. In this session we sat down as half of a group and worked on our Prologue and Epilogue and how we were going to effectively stage this using levels and also using Greek Chorus and a Thespis style aspect to it.
- In this class we completed the order of events and began to touch up and finalise our scenes. We also practiced and refine our scenes after school.
- I was unfortunately absent from this session. But I do believe that the costumes and props were picked in this session
- Today was a final dress rehearsal because we were performing our piece at the end of the lesson.
Evaluation of Our Piece
How did you ensure your scenario was clear for an audience? (include examples)
We ensured that our piece was clear to the audience by using the elements of drama to support our scenario. For example we used tension and character and role as seen in the stock types to convey our idea to the audience. We also used the prologue and epilogue to clearly set out what happens in our play to keep the audience form being confused with what was happening on stage.
Explain how your group manipulated time in the piece (e.g. how did you create a clear sense of ‘time running out’)? (support with 2-3 examples)
We created a clear sense of time running out by repeatedly talking about the time until the wedding commences. This can be seen on the multiple occasions where Brighella shouts and accuses the Zanni for no being ready for the wedding when there is only 20 minuted left. We also get a sense that time is running out when Il Dottores must quickly think of an idea to save Isabella from marrying Pantalone.
How did your group use space to show an understanding of the style of Commedia dell Arte? (support with 1-3 examples
We used space to show our understanding of Commedia dell Arte by spreading out even in intimate scenes to give the sense of being in the marketplace or on the piazza performing to the passerby. For example during the wedding scene Isabella is about a metre away for Il Capitano even though it is an intimate scene where they were about to kiss. This can also be seen by the witch and mouse Zanni being in two different corners of the room, even when the witch was handing something over to mouse Zanni.
How did the performers in your group use physicality and vocal expression to create clear and engaging Commedia stock characters? (support with examples)
We physically and vocally exaggerated every line and movement to create clear and engaging Commedia dell Arte stock characters. Even when Isabella is meant to scream at her farther for not letting her marry Pantalone, that actor still screams louder and higher than a normal person would, to show that Isabella is a spoiled, rich brat that gets anything she wants, and when she doesn’t she will through at tantrum, even thought she is 17 years old.
What other conventions and techniques did you use to show your understanding of Commedia dell Arte and what effect did these have on the actor/audience relationship? (support with 2-4 examples)
We used other techniques such as a concetti, lazzi and and aside to show our understanding of Commedia dell Arte. We had a concetti between Pantalone and Isabella to show their feelings toward each other. This also give the audience an idea of the characters and what their motives are. A lazzi is used when Arlecchino does falls over and does his special trick without dropping the wine from the tray. This keeps the audience on the end of their seat to see if he does this trick like if you were at a magic show. We used an aside to directly connect with the audience by having Isabella talking to Dottore and having Isabella have an aside to tell the audience that she is still only doing everything for money.
Evaluation of another piece. Group 2
How did you ensure your scenario was clear for an audience? (include examples)
They showed their piece clearly by using character and role and tension. They used character and role clearly like Arlecchino bouncing around the stage happily. They also showed their scenario clearly by adding tension by having Il Capitano and Pantalone fight at dawn (6:00am).
Explain how your group manipulated time in the piece (e.g. how did you create a clear sense of ‘time running out’)? (support with 2-3 examples)
They had a vague sense that time was running out and this did not apply until the end of the play where it was said that Pantalone and Il Capitano would fight at dawn where it cut to Pantalone worrying about his age and how he would be to weak to fight the”strong” Il Capitano. Arlecchino is found just in time and fights Il Capitano.
How did your group use space to show an understanding of the style of Commedia dell Arte? (support with 1-3 examples)
This group used space effectively by clearly showing intimate and colloquial stage presence. When Columbina and Il Capitano we at the dinner table on their date, they were very close together, showing that they were in love. But Arlecchino stays a distance from Il Capitano, showing that they are not friends at all and have a sort of rivalry.
How did the performers in your group use physicality and vocal expression to create clear and engaging Commedia stock characters? (support with examples)
The performers int this group physically and vocally exaggerated their expressions to really engage the audience into the Commedia stock type characters. Pantalone exaggerated his hunched back and his nasally voice to show is character as the old miser. Arlecchino was bouncing around the room and continuously had an exasperated expression that seemed real but also overly dramatic.
What other conventions and techniques did you use to show your understanding of Commedia dell Arte and what effect did these have on the actor/audience relationship? (support with 2-4 examples)
This group had a lazzi and an aside to have an effect on the actor/audience relationship. In this group Arlecchino accidentally drank the anti- love potion because he was thirsty from rushing to give the love potion to Columbina. This caused the audience to relate to Arlecchino making accidental mistakes that had major consequences. Columbina had an aside in an attempt to make the audience like her character and also to show her motives in the play. In her aside she talked about how she only wanted money. Since this was directly to the audience, they were able to understand her character and motive more clearly.
Final Evaluation
As a group I think that we worked very well our as a whole our play was very good. I think we could have worked on time management a little bit because we went slightly overtime. All of us found it hard to work because we did our play in true Commedia fashion and decided not to have a script and just have an order of events and rehearse these set scenes to create our play. I would work with this group again and I am excited to continue learning theatre.
Signing off
Finn Beachley
Finn's Drama Blog 