According to italian cinema historians, such as Roberto Tessari, Ferdinando Taviani, and Luciano Pinto, Commedia dell’arte, which actually translated while improvised comedy, developed being a response to the political and economic crisis from the 16th 100 years in Italy and, as a result, became the first totally professional type of theatre [1].
It can be believed the fact that use of cover up in commedia dell’atre originated from 1570 with Andrea Apacible, the professional and publisher who was motivated by the venetian carnivals of the time.
She created Pantaloon who is the one of the very famous personas of commedia dell’arte today. She went on to create the spanish chief ‘Il Capitano’. Although her characters were initially unmasked, Andrea wished that the nature of the German carnival ( which celebrates the epiphany [2] ) would be represented in her plays and thus she introduced the goggles and thus came up with the commedia dell’arte that we understand today. [3]
The carnival of venice. [1]
Records of commedia dell’arte performances date back around 1551, where they were acted by specialists outside on temporary periods with halloween costumes and face masks.
But as it was popular with the nobles, many shows were also done indoors for court to get the leisure of nobles. [4]
After it became renowned with the noble the section began to move to france in which many perform writes just like Moliere were inspired to advance their drafted works towards comedy.[5]
Commedia dell’arte started to become popular outside the house Italy at first of the seventeenth century. Since the ‘tipo fisso’ (fixed stereotypes) rapidly became satiric references towards the Italian legislative house and to the conventional Italian person it became one of the most popular amusing theatre genres in the seventeenth and 18th century. [6]
There are several factors behind the use of masks in commedia dell’atre. Mostly, as this sort of theatre features fixed personas but is basically improvised, the masks are being used so that the viewers was able to determine the heroes. As commedia dell’arte was performed by simply different venturing companies, this kind of meant that they would have different attires, yet the face masks would retain all the information had to recognise a unique character. [7]
Also as they performances were mainly on the streets or perhaps by the street, there may not really be a stage nor seating intended for the audience this kind of made it difficult for everyone to view everything from a similar angle or perhaps height. Together with the masks, each of the audience can observe the feelings or actions that were being portrayed.[8]
Commedia dell’arte masks were typically made of leather-based and only covered half of the actor’s face. They were like this so that the actor was able to project his voice and made certain sounds that he could not do with a full mask. The masks were made to fit the facial skin of a given actor because he or she’d generally act out the same personality for his/her entire profession. Commedia dell’arte masks generally have large, extensive feature that are distinct to each character. One example is on the figure Zanni, the nose is incredibly large. May be that the larger the nose is, the stupider the Zanni symbolized tends to be.
Burlesque [2] Burlesque [3]
?nternet site have said ahead of, commedia dell’arte characters were based on ‘tipo fisso’ (a certain stereotype). Some of them possess changed there name or perhaps personality with time for example Saltimbanque, who is characterized as short of wit and without cash. Zanni has several face masks that stand for him that have changed over time with the fashion.
Which every mean different things for example the Brighella mask which in turn represents that poor and starving and hopeless area of Pantin and the Pucinella mask which represents the side which is also poor but though he is ridiculous he is able to outwit many. A lot of the characters had a stereotypical opposing for example the unoriginal opposite of Zanni is represented with the well known personality Pantalone (Pantaloon) who is typically arrogant and rich and who is often dealing with those people who are trying to have his cash away from him.
Pantalone [4]
Although a lot of the commedia dell’arte characters put on masks, there have been few which were never obscured. For example Isabella. Who was many famously served by the well-known actress Isabella Andreini. As well the lovers who were mainly the children and kids of the old and wealthy such as Pantalone or The Chief did not use masks. It is because they were merely there to get the satiric comedy of romance and love to the performance. They were there to make the performance even more light. And therefore did not include a specific characteristic apart from getting completely in love with their character. [10]
Commedia dell’arte goggles were useful in the impression that even though the the costumes and stage altered in fashion after some time, The masks stayed basically the same. In this manner the audience could appreciate and recognise the smoothness and still delight in new ways from the typical history being offered.
In many educational institutions such as Jaques Lecoq’s worldwide school of theatre in paris, commedia dell’arte goggles are used being a learning device for aspiring actors. Jaques Lecoq, was created in 1921 started off as being a sports teacher and then managed to move on to behaving with his partner, Gabreielle Aunty. He relocated to Italy pertaining to eight years in 1948 where he found out Commedia dell’arte. Together with the sculptor, Amleto Sartori, they designed the neutral mask. When ever Lecoq moved back to Rome he dedicated the remainder of his your life to educating at his school.
Jaques Lecoq [5]
His school offers many courses basically on understanding and dealing with the body through the use of masks. His philosophy was that in order to become a fantastic actor, you needed to utilize the Neutral goggles to discover your body, movement, stability and space. He also believed the typical 1 / 2 masks of commedia dell’arte, played an essential role in improvisation and to work on character types for that reason he integrated both into his training [11].
Words a thousand (not which include bibliography, records under pictures nor headings )
Bibliography:
[1] ” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commedia_dell’arte
[2] ” http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/holidays/mardi_gras.htm
[3] ” http://italian.about.com/library/weekly/aa110800a.htm
[4] -http://www.tutu-inc.com/thesis/THESIS.htm
[5] -http://www.therudemechanicaltheatre.co.uk/talkarchive.htm
[6] -http://www.tutu-inc.com/thesis/THESIS.htm
[7] ” http://www.usq.edu.au/artsworx/schoolresources/androclesandthelion/commedia#Mask
[8] ” http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_masks_used_for
[9] ” http://italian.about.com/library/weekly/aa110800a.htm
[10] -http://www.delpiano.com/carnival/html
[11] ” http://www.ecole-jacqueslecoq.com
Bibliography of Images:
[1] ” http://travel.smart-guide.net/venice-carnival
[2] ” http://tombanwell.blogspot.com/2010/09/zanni-leather-mask.html
[3] ” http://www.theater-masks.com/commedia-masks/commedia-mask-zanni-1
[4] ” http://www.clg-mignet.ac-aix-marseille.fr/mignet/spip.php?article440
[5] ” http://www.maghress.com/fr/marochebdo/31832
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