Collingwood College Drama Department Commedia Dell’Arte Cover Lesson 19/03/2020 November 2015 Mrs Leedham 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 Italy costumes storage masks outdoors changing room Renaissance specialized skills troupe horse-drawn carts scenarios 1 SAN Year 8 Cover Drama 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: ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ 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: ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ 2 SAN Year 8 Cover Drama 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 ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2: Chest ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3: Tummy ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4: Hips ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5: Toes ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3 SAN Year 8 Cover Drama 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 SAN Year 8 Cover Drama 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. 5 SAN Year 8 Cover Drama Animal: He scuttles round like a beetle Leads from: his nose almost bet double at the waist. Choose: Acrostic device/Poem/Song about Pantalone ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ 6 SAN Year 8 Cover Drama ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ 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. 7 SAN Year 8 Cover Drama Acrostic device/Poem/Song about Brighella ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ 8 SAN Year 8 Cover Drama ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ 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. 9 SAN Year 8 Cover Drama Animal: He struts and puffs out his chest like a peacock. Leads from: his sword and chest. Acrostic device/Poem/Song about Il Capitano ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ 10 SAN Year 8 Cover Drama ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ 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
