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Commedia dell’arte is the theatrical genre that emerged from the urban centers of Renaissance Italy in the sixteenth century. It also signaled the beginnings of modern acting in Western culture and altered European notions of comedy and humor. Dialogue and interaction between characters was mostly improvised and unscripted, and designed to be adaptive and flexible. Despite the spontaneous nature of the genre, all commedia dell’arte troupes shared certain key elements in their performances, including repetitive plots and stock characters.

This performance guide will help you to identify and convey the physical attributes and characteristics of your character within a commedia performance. Performing commedia is unusual as you are not creating a new character, but instead bring yourself into a stock role that must be instantly recognizable to the audience.

Terminology

• Harlequin (Arlecchino): The most popular servant; an acrobatic, witty stock character designed to entertain the audience.
• Il Capitano: A pompous fool who believes himself to be a hit with the ladies and a war hero - he is neither.
• Improvisation: The act of inventing or executing action or dialogue in the moment without preparation.
• Innamorati: The young lovers of the play and usually the only characters not to wear masks.
• Lazzi: Specific comedic routines or jokes typical to each character that can be used at any given moment within the play.
• Scenarios: A series of scene descriptions which take the place of a script in commedia performances.
• Vecchi: The old men or ‘mastersâ€� who control (to various extents) the lives of the other characters, e.g., Magnifico, Pantalone, Il Dottore.
• Zanni: The servants within the play and the characters of lowest status.