2. Greetings Theatre
Student. Its your time
bending pal Caesar
again ready to walk
you through another
lesson of World
Theatre. In this lesson
we will be going
through the fun and
exciting world of
Commedia Del Arte, a
16th century Italian
amateur comedic style
of theatre that uses
stock characters and
improvisation! Lets get

3. Historical Context
Lets add a little backstory to this theatre style
shall we. Well Commedia Del Arte dates
back to 1545 in Italy where young amateur
actors and actresses performed in troupes
on the streets for the common folk. Unlike
other forms of theatre, Commedia was not
known to have any written plays until their
later works such as the plays of Goldoni’s
Servant of Two Masters, Androcles and the
Lion and GozziThe Green Bird.Also
Commedia Del Arte scenarios were
published by FlaminioScala in 1611.
Professional troupes worked all around Italy
and soon spread across Europe as a typical
and popular form of entertainment.

4. Fundamental Characteristics of Commedia Del Arte
 Lazzi- Comic bits within Commedia that were plot points
within the piece that helped progress the story
 Improvisation and Spontaneity: Although lines were
stored up and stories were written before hand to include
a beginning, middle and end by the acting Manager,
Commedia needed to remain fresh, exciting and
spontaneous. Most stories remained clear enough to
include plot points but vague enough to include lazzis to
help the story progress and add spontanetiy.
 Actors played one Stock Character Role for all of their
lives

5. Themes within Commedia Del
Arte -Righteous and Meek
Servants overcoming Unfair
Masters.
-A common theme
among most Commedia
is that the servant
characters or the zanni
overcome their harsh
Masters. This echoed
to the politics of the
times between the
actual class systems of
Italy.

6. Introduction to Stock
Characters
“Each troupe had stock characters, each having a name
and trait that set the characters off from similar
characters in other companies. However the same
character types tended to repeat from one troupe to
another” (History of Theatre, Oscar J Brockett pg.173)
Characters where put into two categories: The masked
and the unmasked characters.

7. •
•
•
•Male: Lelio, Mario, Fulvio
•Female: Isabella, Angelica
Silvia

8. Common Lazzi for Lovers
 Lazzis: Comedic bits that continue the story of the
character and express a part of who they are
 1.) Lets out a very exciting coo as she jumps up
and down in place. 2.) Losing temper and
screaming and shouting until she gets her way.
3.) Tap Dancing 4.) A long dramatic sigh
5.) Rolling eyes in disgust or disbelief.
6.) Dramatic mood swings. 7.) Feigning
innocence and/or shock whenever caught or in an
embarrassing situation or confronted with a very
direct male lover. 8.) Likes to go temporarily
insane. 9.) Kicks the ground when upset.

9. •
•
•
•

10. Common Lazzis for
Pantalone
 Lazzo of the Lost Money Bag:TwoPantalones
meet. There is a money pouch lying on the floor.
There are three phases to the encounter. Keep
moving physically as much as possible.-
Greeting- each thinks the other does not see it
and try and get rid of the other.-Recognition- of
the fact the purse is there, statement of claims
and counter claims for outrageous reasons.-
Contest (choreographed)- race for the purse.

11. Masked Master: Dottore
 Dottores character is another
higher up master character and
although not obsessed with
money, he is obsessed with
stroking his own ego. Especially
about how smart he is and his
made up endeavors. He’s also fat
and loves to drink.
 Think big hippo with this one.
Small large movements mostly
related to the belly.
 Relationships: Neighbor/Rival of
Pantalone and clinging to others
for his own gain. (Tries to talk
about self and do failed medical
experiments with no back round
knowledge.)

12. Common Lazzisfor Dottore
 1.) Believes someone suffers from an ailment which they obviously
do not. Offers to cure them.
 2.) Spontaneously diagnoses performers on stage.
 3.) Tries to enlist assistance to help him perform experimental
surgeries on himself and others.
 4.) Performs random experiments in the name of science and
medicine.
 5.) Is usually trying to make and get people to try strange potions.
 6.) Accidentally takes his own medicine.

13. Masked Master: Capitano
 This one is a bit of a funny spin
off of the Italians view of the
Spanish. Another braggart of
egos, this time in the essence of
being a great solider that lead his
men into battles that he always
won. The truth is that he’s a big
chicken.
 Movement: Leading mostly with
the nose and standing firm with
confidence. Marches everywhere
 Relationships: Servant to
Pantalone or Doctore however
higher then the servant
characters for his “noted”
endeavors.

14. CapitanoLazzis
 1. Lazzo of Excuses - Capitano goes into a long spiel
about how he could kill whoever he is talking to, how
he could destroy them in so many ways with so
much ease, but there is always some silly reason
why he can’t.
 2. Lazzo of Counting - He beats Arlecchino for some
reason ten times, but keeps losing count and starting
over.
 3. Lazzo of Killing - Capitano and Arlecchino decide
to kill Pantalone. To demonstrate to the other how he
would kill Panatlone, he says, “You be Pantalone”,
and strangles the other. As Arlecchino nearly passes
out, he says, “Now you be Pantalone” and returns
the favor.

15. Masked Servant:
Arlechinno
•Arlechinno is one of the most common
servant type characters of the Commedia
Story. Androcles in the Lion uses the
character of Arlechinno as their main
protagonist Androcles. Some defining
characteristics is a simple minded servant
with great physical ability and acrobatics.
He is also known for being gluttonous
•Movement: Cat Like movement,
Frequently taking general movement
such as walking and running and
including cartwheels, somersaults and
flips.
•Relationships: Servant to Dottore and
Pantalone, Helps Lovers, and Sometimes
hurt by Capitano.

16. Arlechinno Lazzis
 Monosyllable Lazzo: Weeping, Arlecchino enters the
stage. The Doctor question him as to his behavior,
but Arlecchino only answers in monosyllables. Or,
Arlecchino’s master questions him while Arlecchino
eats. Concerned about a widow, the master asks
increasingly complicated questions about her, while
Arlecchino always manages to answer in
monosyllables as he gobbles down the food.

17. Masks? Why Masks?
 A common question most thespians ask is why do Italians
use the masks constantly?
 Identifying characters was one of the main concerns. Since
many troupes changed the way the characters costumes,
keeping the masks consistent helped the audience
remember.
 Limiting the view of the actor helps create unique
movement, each character having its own unique
movements

18. Movements essential nature in
Commedia
•Movement is also an essential
part of Commedia Del Arte. Each
specific character shows their
personality, motives and
objectives through their body
movement and through this the
character comes to life
•Exercise:
•Walk across the room.
Students are all lined up
along one wall and asked to
walk across the room one by
one, making their walk as
unique as possible. This is
another way of making lazzi
as children with try to out do
each other and the walks will
become bigger and better.

19. Thanks for another great
adventure through
another time period in
history. I do have to head
out Thespians but
provided on the next
slide is a hidden link to
some more info on
Commedia Del Arte from
the National Theatre
Company. Click on any
part of the slide to
access it. They have
plenty more videos on
there so please check