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Servant - Commedia

Images of Commedia performance

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Look at the following images of Commedia companies performing.

You will notice that they are performing OUTDOORS on make-shift stages. This is because they were TOURING companies who moved from city/town to city/town.

The Commedia STYLE of performing develops because of this

.THINK / PAIR / SHARE

  • What are the challenges of performing outdoors (in a busy market place?)
  • Why would Masks have helped the audience?
  • If the audience didn’t understand the language or dialect of the actors (because they were from a different region or even country *Commedia companies toured to other European countries) HOW does the performance STYLE have to compensate for this?

Servant - Commedia

Commedia dell’ Arte – A Historic Overview

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Summer Task #1

Watch the clip from a workshop presented by Didi Hopkins from Commediaworks (A UK company specialising in Commedia dell’ Arte). THEN read the section ‘Commedia dell’arte and Carlo Goldoni’ in the Commentary section of your play ‘ a Servant to 2 Masters’ (Page: XXXIX – XLII – 3.5 pages)

Once you’ve done your reading/viewing answer the following questions. Type them ready to hand in on your 1st class in September. [Include the question as the opening of your answer BUT don’t write out the question in full!]

  1. Where and when did Commedia start? What was it a mixture of?
  2. How can it claim to be ‘popular’ theatre?
  3. Why was it considered an actors theatre?
  4. How were the troupes organised? (*Use video and book)
  5. What was the role of women?
  6. Why was the relationship with the audience key?
  7. Stories/Scenarios – Were the actors working from fully written scripts and if not how did the actors know what to do and say? (*Use video and book)
  8. What are ‘lazzi’? (*Use video and book)
  9. What has Commedia influenced? (try and find some of your own examples)