Year 8 Commedia workbook

Collingwood College Drama Department

Commedia

Dell’Arte

Cover Lesson 19/03/2020

Mrs Leedham

November 2015

SAN Year 8 Cover Drama

TASK 1 – CLOZE EXERCISE

Commedia dell’Arte means comedy of the arts. It is a type of

………………………comedy based on plot outlines, or……………….., developed in 16th and 17th century………………...

A ……………consisted of 10 people usually 8 men and 2 women.

Commedia dell‘ Arte featured stock characters, who wore distinctive …………………and………………...

Common themes were jealousy, adultery, old age and love.

Performers had …………………….and included acrobats, dancers, musicians, orators, comedians, and improvisers possessing thorough insights into politics and human nature.

They performed ……………….in city and town piazzas on stages they brought with them in……………………………, along with their equipment, props, costumes, curtains, and ladders. The stages were usually built high (up to 2 meters), allowing spectators an unobstructed view of the action, and giving actors a ……………… area and …………………………..underneath. Some of the better

Commedia troupes performed in ……………………………..theatres improvised storage changing room troupe

Italy costumes masks outdoors

Renaissance specialized skills horse-drawn carts scenarios

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TASK 2 – ‘CENTERING’

There are a number of different methods for starting to create a character.

In Commedia actors start by making physical changes to their body.

You try

: Where you are sitting drop your chin onto your chest, relax your facial muscles, slump your shoulders and exhale deeply.

Describe how this makes you feel:

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Because we associate this position with feeling sad or depressed when we sit that way it can bring up those feelings.

Now try:

Sit up straight, pull your shoulders back, raise your eyeline, smile and breath in deeply through your nose.

Describe how differently this makes you feel:

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Similarly, to this, the walk and movement of a character can all change, depending on where their center of weight is giving the audience clues about them.

In the space provided below consider what kind of character might move leading from various parts of their body.

This could be about the character’s age, emotional state, job role or current circumstances. E.g. a character leading from the chest could be brave or arrogant.

1: Nose

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2: Chest

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3: Tummy

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4: Hips

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5: Toes

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TASK 3 – LEARNING ABOUT THE CHARACTERS

Memorise some information about two of the Commedia characters we are studying this half term.

For each character you need to learn the following:

 Name

 Appearance

 Job

 What they most value/love

 Behaviour/characteristics

 Prop they would be seen with

 What animal they are most like

 What part of their body is their center of weight.

This information can be found in the following pages. You need to take this information and complete one of the following tasks for all three characters.

1.

Acrostic Device: Write their name down the side of the page and use each letter to start a sentence about the character.

2.

Write a short poem about the character.

3.

Re-write a familiar song with your own lyrics to help you memorise the key facts about the characters.

4


Character 1

Name: Pantalone

Appearance: An old man like Scrooge from ‘A Christmas Carol’

Job: A Venetian Merchant

Loves: money

Prop: money bag tied to his waist

Behaviour: Miserly but throws massive tantrums when things don’t go his way.

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Animal: He scuttles round like a beetle

Leads from: his nose almost bet double at the waist.

Choose: Acrostic device/Poem/Song about Pantalone

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Character 2

Name: Brighella

Appearance: He is a very fat man, stocky and heavy footed.

Job: A landlord, shop keeper or inn keeper

Loves: food

Prop: his dagger

Behaviour: Extremely lazy. He is a liar and a cheat. People think he is simple minded but he is very cunning.

Animal: He pounces unexpectedly like a cat.

Leads from: his stomach due to his excess weight.

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Acrostic device/Poem/Song about Brighella

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Character 3

Name: Il Capitano

Appearance: He dresses in a military uniform

Job: He is known as The Captain but may not be a real captain

Loves: women

Prop: his sword. He likes to wave it round to impress the ladies.

Behaviour: He acts brave but is actually a coward.

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Animal: He struts and puffs out his chest like a peacock.

Leads from: his sword and chest.

Acrostic device/Poem/Song about Il Capitano

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TASK 4: CREATING MASKS

Commedia characters wore masks. All characters were distinguishable to the audience through their masks. Below is an example of a mask belonging to the character of Arlecchino.

Choose a character you have explored. On A4 paper create a mask for this character. Label and explain design choices.

Arlecchino

11

Year 8 Commedia workbook

Commedia

Dell’Arte

You try

Now try:

Character 1

Character 2

Character 3

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Year 8 Commedia workbook

Commedia

Dell’Arte

You try

Now try:

Character 1

Character 2

Character 3

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