You need to make a plan.

You need a short Generic Introduction (2-3 lines)

You NEED to have a longer introduction that gets to grips with 1) the Question (key words),

2) that states your approach to the Question,

3) that contains SOME social and historic contexts (BUT DON’T TURN IT INTO A HISTORY OF THEATRE ESSAY).

Use the image of a sieve (not everything is going to get into the essay.)

What are the funniest moments involving:

• Silvio and Clarice
• Dr Lombardi and Pantaloon.

What social / historic ‘pearls of wisdom’ would be RELEVANT about:

• Comedy
• Silvio and Clarice
• Dr Lombardi and Pantaloon.

Open v Closed questions activity

Effective Introductions activity

Watch clips of Silvio and Clarice and Dr Lombardi and Pantaloon.

For the characters make sure you have a clear idea of the following:

• physical appearance, age, height, build, colouring, facial features
• vocal qualities, pitch, pace, tone, accent
• delivery of specific lines: interaction with others, eye contact, spatial relationships, physical contact
• use of space
• Their relationship with other KEY characters
• movement, gesture, gait, posture, energy, demeanour and facial expressions
• style/use of costume/make-up; of props and accessories

• What is their relationship at the start of the play?
• How does it develop over the course of the play?
• What are the go-to scenes for these 2 characters “where they appear together?“
• What sorts of comedy is present? Is it comedy of character (traits pushed to the max) or of interactions (misfortunes, slapstick, vocal insults). Is it the audience that finds humour in the misfortune of the characters.
• What Social/Historical ‘pearls’ – how have the characters been ‘reformed’ by Goldoni

• Watch the clip above – find the scene you have been working on. Make notes on what ‘invented business’ the actors came up with. How did the COMEDY work?

Your answer needs to contain an Introduction (both a quick generic one for the play in general and a specific one explaining your directorial concept/aims. Then a Body of 4-6 paragraphs that ‘zoom in’ on the ‘go-to moments’. This is the bit where you have to use the terminology of acting and directing. A short conclusion if time allows.

You must have quotes.

You must work in your historic/ social knowledge into your writing – NOT just bolt it on to your Introduction.

REVISION ADVICE.

• Re-read your notes in your Journal
• Re-read the BLOG and re-watch the clips contained there.
• Go to the Shared area [Students-A level – Servant of 2 Masters] and look at the documents pinned to the top.

The Mock exam will focus on Acts 1 and 2 of the play BUT NOT Act 3

It will focus on the following characters and techniques:

• Comedy
• Dr Lombardi, Pantaloon, Silvio and Clarice.

There will be 1 question to do FROM A CHOICE of 2.

You will write for approximately 45 mins and use 5 more minutes to plan.

YOU WILL NOT ATTEMPT THE DESIGN QUESTION.

You will have to work into your essay ‘pearls of wisdom / facts’ that reveal knowledge and understanding of the wider world of the play, Goldoni, Commedia as a style and the 18th century.

You MUST focus your writing about the PLAY IN PERFORMANCE.

QUOTES are expected and anchor your writing to specific moments.

You should AIM to make your writing clear enough that it can be acted by another person.

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.

As a performer playing Smeraldina, discuss the performance methods you would employ in order to create comedy for your audience in at least 2 sections of the play. Make specific reference to social and/or historic contexts in the play (Servant of 2 Masters) in your answer.

Introduction

What generic (general) information do you need?

What specific information? (a good place to get in some of your social / historic information, BUT don’t let it turn into a History of Commedia essay!)

Use the notes I gave you and the Commentary about Smeraldina.

2 moments that are comic – what would you choose?

Plan it! (10 mins) Be prepared to SHARE

WHAT: Know the point to your paragraphs

HOW: Know what examples / moments / quotes

WHY is it FUNNY