Serving the 2 masters (the most famous scene in the play)

1. Watch the clip above and list all the physical comedy moments and interactions with props and other characters that you can find.
2. Create a list of ‘ways that comedy can be created’ that is relevant to the scene. (Physical and other means)
3. Use these categories Comedy of Personality / Comedy of Situation / Comedy of ‘gags’ to organise your ideas (in readiness for an essay).

DIRECTOR FOCUS

Q1    You are a director staging the ‘famous’ serving of two Masters scene (Act 2 Scene 12)

Discuss how you would direct the actor playing Truffaldino in his interactions with props and other characters in order to create physical comedy.

You must make specific reference to the social, cultural and/or historical context of “A Servant of Two Masters” in your answer.

Sentence starters;

• As a director I would create comedy by…
• My directorial intention at this moment will be to…
• As the director of this scene I want the audience to be amused by…

Try this question – identify the command and key words – make a plan for what you could talk about based on the clip above – (make reference to audience interaction – which is very clear in this production – and the physicality/acrobatic qualities and speech – delivery/pace.)

Examiner’s say the Indicative content for a Director focused question could include… [remember you wouldn’t be expected to cover it all!!]

• physical appearance, age, height, build, colouring, facial features of ALL characters
• vocal qualities, pitch, pace, tone, accent of ALL characters
• delivery of specific lines: interaction with others, eye contact, spatial relationships, physical contact
• use of space
• KEY relationships
• movement, gesture, gait, posture, energy, demeanour and facial expressions
• style/use of costume/make-up; of props and accessories
• specific performance ideas clearly calculated to reveal the specified interpretation in key scenes.

Social, cultural or historical context might include, for example:

• reference to stock characters
• why is it physical comedy and not verbal
• structure of play
• concepts of Commedia – lazzi, audience interaction

General points:

• Don’t ‘bolt’ all your historical and social knowledge on to the Introduction. It delays getting you into the main part of the essay which is HOW you’d act.
• Get to the acting quicker BUT do set up the context (2 sentences max.) Why is Smeraldina there in the scene?
• Make the acting ideas creative and specific – steal if you have to but be assertive and bold. “I will…”
• Try and get some historic/social facts into the paragraph ONLY IF THEY ANSWER THE QUESTION

SAMPLE INTRO – generic and then specific:

In Carlo Goldoni’s Commedia inspired 1745 play, ‘A Servant to 2 Masters (So2M), Smeraldina has a more prominent role than in earlier traditional Commedia scenarios. She is still based on the stock-type ‘servetta’ and she still has a commentator’s role bridging the gap between characters and audience, but she has been given her own romantic plot line with the other main servant Truffaldino.  She is outspoken and bold in the face of male authority but equally shy and endearing to the audience when seeking a suitable marriage partner. It is these character traits that I would exploit in my performance to create comedy for the audience.

1st Paragraph (showing HOW I would do this)

WHAT: A moment with comic potential is in Act 2 Scene 5 just after Smeraldina has saved her mistress Clarice from trying to commit suicide. She turns on Silvio; the hot-headed son of Dr Lombardi and Clarice’s fiancé, and delivers an amazingly energetic rant about the status of women in society and the inequality of the sexes, “The only reason we get the stick is because we don’t have a dick.” Her parting shot to Silvio is, “They (women) wouldn’t give you a second glance, ‘big boy’.” HOW: As Smeraldina, I’d use a sarcastic tone of voice and emphasise the words ‘big boy’ whilst dropping my pitch to imitate a male voice. I’d change my body language to that of a hulking, stiff alpha-male flexing his muscles in order to poke fun at Silvio and get a laugh from the audience. WHY: This would also be bold and spirited thing to do as Silvio is socially more superior, but as I’m playing Smeraldina as a 30 something woman with worldly experience and Silvio is just out of his teens, the audience will enjoy and hopefully find it funny that I am putting him back in his place through verbal and physical parody.

NEXT PARA:

Discuss something funny from the same moment – perhaps some of the sword business.

Next 2 PARAS:

Go to a new section: The Courtship of Truffaldino and Smeraldina Act 2 Scene 14: It’s a long scene so ask yourself the Question ‘WHAT’S THE FUNNIEST MOMENT’ AND JUMP TO THAT.

WHAT: Later in the play (Act 2 Scene 14) when Smeraldina and Truffaldino are having their awkward courtship, there is physical comedy that can be brought out from the moment that both admit they they can’t read.