Commedia dell’ arte is known as “Italian Comedy” and “Comedy of Art.” This form of theatre originated in the 16th century with Greek and Roman influences. Actors use an outlined storyline, but mainly are viewed and seen more for the actors improvisation and tricks. The show will usually have eight stock characters and performancers like acrobatics, mimes, and clowns. The actors wore specialty designed masks to hide their feel emotion and to portray the same emotion on the mask the whole show. The actors would also use their body language to show emotion. "Music, dance, witty dialogue, and all kinds of chicanery contributed to the comic effects. Subsequently the art form spread throughout Europe, with many of its elements persisting into present-day theater. The actors made use of the lazzi (special rehearsed routines that could be inserted into the plays at convenient points to heighten the comedy), musical numbers, and impromptu dialogue to vary the happenings on stage." (enotes) All of the actors were bilingual, because the commedia dell’ arte became a world tour. We still see commedia dell’ arte in todays theater and television shows.
Facts: Winifred Smith was one of the first scholars to point out that the origins of the commedia dell'arte might best be sought in the Renaissance-era commedia erudite—which translates as “learned comedy”—and in the street performances of clowns, jesters, jugglers, mimes, and others who entertained crowds during Carnival, a traditional period of celebration that precedes the austerities of Lent much in the manner of Mardi Gras in the United States.
Many actors made their own leather masks for the shows.
Futurama would be a wonderful example of commedia dell’ arte in western animation today. The stock characters would be:
Arlecchino: Fry
Colombina: Leela
Brighella: Bender
Il Dottore: Professor Farnsworth
Pierrot: Dr. Zoidberg
Il Capitano: Zap Branigan
Innamorati: Amy and Kif
This picture is at the end of a commedia dell' arte performance.
This picture is some of the masks that the performancers wear.
"Commedia dell'Arte - Copyright Page." Literary Criticism (1400-1800). Ed. Michael L. LaBlanc. Vol. 83. Gale Cengage, 2003. eNotes.com. 2006. 27 Sep, 2010 <http://www.enotes.com/literary-criticism/commedia-dell-arte/copyright-page>
