Commedia dell' Arte

Instructor:  Dan Stone

Commedia dell'Arte is Italian for "Play of Professional Artists".  Commedia dell'Arte, a form as popular as renaissance opera, was pure theatre.  Commedia thrived in Italy from 1550 to 1750.  It was not a written literary form, but rather consisted of improvised presentations:  the performers had no set texts but invented the words and actions during rehearsal periods in the creation of the play.  Four basic character archetypes:  Zanni (comic servant), Old Men, Lovers, Capitano (cowardly soldier/braggart); within each archetype are several character variations.