New ideas!

This lesson we decided that we would need to change the idea as it is 'choreographed' to much, in Commedia dell'arte most of the of the content is improvised which is incorporated with one small idea, as our original idea of a murder mystery has been planed too much I think that the scene has lost it's charisma. So in today's lesson we got put into groups I was paired with Lorna, Rhiannon and Charlie we decided that we should do a scene with just Columbina and Zanni as they have a special relationship, this is because Zanni reminds Columbina of her lover (who is not in the show that we are producing), so she likes to help him, but as we know that Columbina is very flirty and Zanni is very innocent we should do a lazzi revolving around the idea that Zanni is in love with Columbina and as Columbina is a very flirty character she will torment him. As Charlie and Lorna wasn't acting we decided to a bit of forum theater this is where the audience are aloud to freeze the scene and add suggestions to improve it.

Our first ideas was:
That Zanni would chase Columbina as he likes her but Columbina finds him creepy, this idea was very difficult to adapt as Zanni and Columbina's characteristics didn't suit the idea. Instead we decided that it would be better if we would in-cooperate an idea where Zanni is trying to impress Columbina but actually ends up in a sticky situation.

Here's what we came up with:

• Columbina is hanging up her washing and Zanni walks in and watches her 
• Columbina notices Zanni is there and does a little wiggle to get Zanni, Zanni is clearly attracted
• Zanni grabs a bottle of glue which he thinks is gel, the 'gel' is not coming out so he claps on the bottle which leads to loads of glue dropping down on his hair, he starts styling his hair but one of his hands get stuck and he struggles to get it off
• Columbina looks back but as Zanni wants to impress Columbina he put his other hand on his head and kisses his biceps, this ends up with Zanni's other hand stuck in his hair, he then gets on the floor rolling all over the place 
• Columbina looks back which leads to Zanni doing sit-ups this leads to a short time where Zanni is struggling to get his had out of his hair and every time she looks back he continues doing sit-ups
• Columbina finds the bottle of glue and put the pieces together
• She then goes to Zanni and Zanni lays on the floor in a very seductive away 
• When Columbina confronts him he gets upset 
• Then Columbina pulls his hands off his head, Zanni screams really high to create a comic affect
• She then pats his head and now her hand is stuck on his head 
• Then Doctore comes in and he tries to help but as he always rambles on about weird stuff, Columbina has to stop him, this leads to Doctore pulling Columbina's hand off Zanni's head but Doctore get his hand stuck on Columbina's back 
• As Zanni is happy that he is out of the sticky situation he grabs Columbina's leg and says thanks whilst Doctore an Columbina are saying 'No!' now Zanni's hands are stuck on Columbina's leg
• Which ends up looking very inappropriate as Doctore's and is stuck on Columbina's back

We called the other group to show them what we have got and to see how they would improve it, Everyone seemed to enjoy it as they understood each characters characteristics, however they said that I need to work on my Zanni movement, since we had more time we decided that we should add Il Capitano into the scene, Here's what they added:

• Il Capitano enters and demands to Doctore to let go Columbina
• Doctore tells Ill Capitano to wait for a bit, then they all realize what this might look like so they look to the audience slowly and then to Il Capitano
• Il Capitano gets his sword out and everyone else fight together to try to beat Il Capitano

Other people had good ideas like to wear a bald cap for after the incident as it will give a comic affect, and for Zanni to fall asleep during fight. Next lesson we will develop this idea more.