Commedia dell'arte

• Commedia dell'Arte is a form of theater characterized by masked "types" which began in Italy in the 16th century.

• It was responsible for the advent of the actress and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios.

The masks

Italian theater historians, such as Roberto Tessari, Ferdinando Taviani, and Luciano Pinto believe commedia developed as a response to the political and economic crisis of the 14th century and, as a consequence, became the first entirely professional form of theater.

• The performers played on outside, temporary stages, and relied on various props (robbe) in place of extensive scenery.

The better troupes were patronized by nobility, and during carnival period might be funded by the various towns or cities, in

which they played.

• Extra funds were received by donations (essentially passing the hat) so anyone could view the performance free of charge.

• Key to the success of the commedia was the ability of the performers to travel to achieve fame and financial success.

The characters of the commedia usually represent fixed [social] types, stock characters, such as foolish old men, devious servants, or military officers full of false bravado.

Arlecchino

Arlecchino is the most popularly known of the zanni or comic servant characters from the Italian Commedia dell'arte and its descendant, the Harlequinade.

Origins

• One of the origins postulated for the modern Harlequin is Hellequin, a stock character in French passion plays.

• Hellequin, a black-faced emissary of the devil, is said to have roamed the countryside with a group of demons chasing the damned souls of evil people to Hell.

• illustrations of Arlecchino have only been dated as far back as 1572

• some say the name comes from Dante's Inferno, XXI, XXII and XXIII; one of the devils in Hell having the name Alichino.

The Harlequin character may have been based on or influenced by the Zanni archetype who, although a slow thinker, was acrobatic and nimble.

Harlequin's distinctive motley costume may be a stylized variant of Zanni's plain white garb, designed to reflect the ad-hoc patching necessary to prevent the garment's degradation.

He is typically cast as the servant of an innamorato or vecchio much to the detriment of the plans of his master.

Arlecchino often had a love interest in the person of Colombina, or in older plays any of the Soubrette roles, and his lust for her was only superseded by his desire for food and fear of his master.

PULCINELLA

Pulcinella is a classical character that originated in the commedia dell'arte of the 17th century and became a stock character in Neapolitan puppetry.

The name

• His name, from Italian pulcino ('chick'), refers to his distinguishing feature: a long beaklike nose.

• According to another version, Pulcinella derived from the name of Puccio d'Aniello, a peasant of Acerra, who was portrayed in a famous picture attributed to Annibale Carracci, and indeed characterized by a long nose.

He’s always dressed in white with a black mask (hence conciliating the opposites of life and death)

Pulcinella often carries around macaroni and a wooden spoon. His traditional temperament is to be mean, vicious, and crafty and his main mode of defense is to pretend to be too stupid to know what's going on.

PINOCCHIO

The story

• The Adventures of Pinocchio is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi, written in Florence.

• It is about the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio, an animated marionette, and his poor father, a woodcarver named Geppetto.

• The first half was originally a serial between 1881 and 1883, and then later completed as a book for children in February 1883.

• Pinocchio's contains the hard realities of the need for food, shelter, and the basic measures of daily life.

• The setting of the story is in fact the very real Tuscan area of Italy as a background.

The story's Italian language is peppered with Florentine dialect features, such as the protagonist's Florentine name.

Collodi originally had not intended the novel as children's literature; the ending was unhappy and allegorically dealt with serious themes. In the original, serialized version, Pinocchio dies a gruesome death—hanged for his innumerable faults, at the end of Chapter 15.

At the request of his editor, Collodi added chapters 16–36, in which the Fairy with Turquoise Hair rescues Pinocchio and eventually transforms him into a real boy, when he acquires a deeper understanding of himself, making the story suitable for children.