Evaluation

What went well:

• The set was cool and worked really well
• Cabaret seating enabled us to move around the audience easily and it helped them to be immersed inside the scene
• There was really funny scene where everyone enjoyed
• We worked very well together giving each other cues
• The stock characters were clear and people understood who was who

How could we improve:

• Everyone could improve the  characterisation as everyone did lose their character a bit I think this is because everyone didn't let go to perform to their best
• There was too many things going on at the same time that the audience didn't know what to look at
• We need to project our voices so everyone could hear us
• I think we should of worried more on the performance than the set on the day of the performance

Plants

This lesson we discussed about props and Plants. We need plants in order to add them into the show this will make the audience think that they are more immersed into the show as well. We picked two plants both having a lot of experience in shows and plays this way we know that they will do well as plants.
We also discussed more scenes that we need to devise they are:

• Extendo Fork
• Oil Cocktail
• Intro of the critic

These are small transition scenes which wont take long to make.

Licking plates

This lesson we decided to create a new opening scene, basically the scene is based in the kitchen and there's havoc everywhere and Doctore and Pantolonie are arguing over who is the better manger. Whilst this happening everyone else is doing something, I'm licking the plates clean but Columbina and Brighella are telling me off and making me to do other stuff, we decided to to do this as it shows Zanni's submissive nature and his role in the heirachy he has to listen to everyone as he is at the bottom.

Zanni's entertainment

Today we went through all the scenes we have created. These are:

• The thief
• Syrup scene
• New waitress
• Prawn soup
• Harlequin eats paper

We did this so we know what we have created and what we need to create for a finished performance, currently I think all the scenes are good as they haven't been over rehearsed therefore there is still an improvised tint to the performance which is how Comedia Dell'arte should be.

We also created a list of scenes we need to create. These are:

• Zanni's entertainment ( this is where Zanni fills in for the missing entertainers)
• Il Capitano's and  Doctore's cupboard scene (Il Captano writes a poem to Columbina however Doctore gets it )
• Extended fork ( Harlequin eats the guests food using an extendible fork)
• Cocking oil scene (Brighella swaps the apple juice with cooking oil and Harlequin drinks in)

After this we decided to start creating Zanni's entertainment scene, we started off by Brighella telling Pantolonie and Doctore that their entertainment double booked so they don't have entertainment for that night, however the entertainment is important as they think a critic is in that night. This leads everyone on stage figuring out what they are going to do . Then Doctore offers that he will do it as he is big headed and he has got a lot of talent when actually he hasn't. Then Harlequin starts laughing as he finds the fact that Doctore entertaining is funny. Then Brighella said that he is too busy to it. This leads to Il Capitano saying that he will "volunteer as tribute", then we added another joke saying that this is not hunger games we do this as it mixes modern entertainment with a very old art form showing that Comedia is very versatile. Then Il Capitano corrects himself saying that he will do an Elvis tribute everyone isn't to keen on this idea so then Columbina and Brighella decide to push Zanni into the middle and Zanni is refusing to do it. I will decide what song I will lip sync really badly next lesson

New scene

Today's lesson we devised a new scene involving Doctore Pantolonie and Columbina! This scene is an expansion of the older people (Doctore and Pantolonie) being pervy towards Columbina. We picked this idea as it is very humorous and cringes and works with the fast flow of events we want. The scene consisted of:

• Doctore and Pantolonie are sitting at a restaurant waiting to order from their waitress: Columbina
• When Columbina approaches them, Doctore points her out the Pantolonie says "I don't care how much she costs" this relates to Pantolonie's thirst of money suggesting that she is so beautiful he doesn't care having to give her a big wage, this comment also have a crude feeling and foreshadows what is about to come
•  Columbina asks what the old men want to order which then another crude comment is said by Pantolonie, again "I definitely know what I want" this is implying that Pantolonie wants a bit of Columbina, this comment is more cringe than funny as they are both old men and Columbina is very young.
• Doctore then orders "Rump Steak" which at first I didn't understand but then I got told that the "Rump" is steak this insinuates that Pantolonie is referring to Columbina's bottom, again this is very crude.

I think the scene was good but needed extra stuff for it to be finished, I like this scene as it can be very versatile. I also think that the characters need to look more at the audience as in Comedia Dell'arte the relationship with the audience and the characters need to be stronger.

We decided that the scene should go through forum theater therefore everybody interpretations and ideas will be in co-operated into the scene here's the changes:

• Columbina will be flirting with the audience before  the scene starts therefore it's clear who Columbina is and instantly the audience is in the scene.
• The old men will be grunting to be more perverted and creepy, as well sounds are commonly used in Comedia Dell'arte, so the audience will always know what the characters are feeling.
• Whilst they are ordering, Columbina puts her breasts over Pantolonie breasts where he is staring and the says "you most supreme breasts" the emphasis on breasts add a comic moment as the audience knows what Pantolonie is trying to do.
• The Columbina says "I'll make sure they are perfect for you" she does this as she is a manipulative character she will flirt her way to get what she wants
• The Doctore says another innuendo  " for dessert may I have your finest Cherry pie, with extra thick cream" this comment is very crude for the audience and will make them either laugh or cringe.

After this we decided to make the scene after this scene in the Kitchen (stage) with Harlequino, Columbina and Il Capitano this is what the scene consists of:

• Columbina enters and gives the order to Il Capitano, and the she shivers when she say "Pantolonie and Doctore" which then the audience gets that she doesn't like the old men and is only being nice to manipulate
• Whilst Columbina and Il Capitano are speaking Harelquino grabs the note without them noticing and eats it, this action again shows Harelquino's personality: always hungry and childlike
• Il Capitanio is trying to big himself up for Columbina as he has a crush on her (everybody has a crush on her)
• When Columbina leaves he notices that the paper is gone , and because he wants to impress Columbina he decides to cook spicy meatballs.
• Then Harlequino enter and tells Il Capitano that they are waiting, then he does it agian to give a comic moment
• He gives the dishes to Harlequino and then they are sent back because they are half eaten because Harlequino eats most of it.

This scene is really good as it brings out Harlequino's silly side.

A new location

This lesson we finished our masks by putting elastic string on the masks this enables the masks to stay on our face, now the masks our finished a new rule was established to improve our characterization skills, the rule is that when we have our mask on we have to be our character, if we want to ask a question we have to turn around take our masks of and turn back so everybody knows we have got a question, this rule is simply here to improve the contrast between us and our stock characters.

After this Lorna lead a warm up, I think we should do this every lesson as this will help us to prepare for the physical attributes towards Comedia dell'arte, as (especially Zanni) the movement can be physically exhausting the warm-ups also help with my flexibility and balance which currently I am finding very hard to do with Zanni. We also did a focus exercise and then Oliver led a  characterization warm up, this warm up made me think of the emotions which go through Zanni, as Zanni is very stupid however at the same time over dramatic so I don't know when I should be over dramatic or really stupid. This exercise also helped us to understand our class mates interpretations of their characters.

Pantolonie: Greedy, very introverted, slow , smart, really independent
Doctore: Friendly, smart yet no nothings, stereotypical old man, even friendly towards Zanni!
Harlequino: Lazy, always hungry, independent, doesn't really care about anything.
Columbina: Flirty, really friendly, kind, gets her own way by being kind
Il Capitano: Big headed, challenges everyone, but scared when they challenge him
Brighella: Grumpy, two faced, bossy, very introvert, thinks he is better than he actually is

This exercise also made it easier for me to establish relationships between other characters
Zanni's reaction to them. How other characters react to Zanni.

Il Capitano: A bit cautious try to say hello to him. He is disgusted by Zanni and doesn't even acknowledge him, he event tries to challenge him but Zanni runs away.
Pantolonie: Runs to him and kisses his feet, as he is the servant of Pantolonie. He is again disgusted however likes the attention so bosses him around more.
Doctore: Greets him with a friendly manor. He greets back however keeps his distance from Zanni
Columbina: He admires Columbina so he is very forward with her. She likes Zanni so flirts with him a little bit however does find him a bit creepy at times.
Brighella: He is very scared of him so he keeps his distance from him. He enjoys the fact that Zanni is scared of him so he tries to scare him more and sometimes forces him to do stuff which he doesn't want to do.
Harlequino: Greets him but Zanni doesn't really like Harequino. He is to busy doing nothing to acknowledge Zanni.

This lesson everybody came up with a few new ideas which will be included for our final performance. Here is what we came up with:

After a lot of discussion our final idea led the performance to be set in a restaurant where  the stage is the kitchen and the audience is actually  dining in the restaurant. This idea is good as it can create a lot of dramatic irony as the audience will know whats going happen and whilst the other characters will be all over the place therefore in the scene they wont know what is happening in the kitchen which will lead them to do something wrong.

As you can see we came up with all the roles, we picked each role carefully to the needs and the personalities of characters, we think the two guests should be Doctore and Pantolonie as they have the strongest relationship in the show  and they are also the older ones so we wouldn't really aspect them to be working. The manager is Brighella as it suits her personality (bossy, wants her own way). The dishwasher should be Zanni as he is the lowest servant therefore they will force him to do anything. Harlequin and Doctore to be waiters as Harlequino is very lazy so he wouldn't do anything which would be funny for the audience if he ends eating their food. Columbina as she is very flirty we thought the two old men could try to flirt with them but it go's wrong. The chef to be Il Capitano as he is a massive show off however is terrible at what he does which lead into a lot of mistakes to be made.

I really like the idea that the entertainer couldn't come in so they force Zanni to be one here is a rough idea I got for this scene:

• Zanni gets pushed onto stage, forced to be the entertainer, so he decided to sing a song
• I the song should be an operatic duet so I decided that the Phamtom of the Opera would be a good one to do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fKKiaSLLEY
• When the first verse is finished Harlequino take the role of the Phamtom as he is very foolish and silly, however he forgets that he left the stove on so whilst they are singing a fire is stiring up.
• During the song Zanni and Harlequino are over doing and making it into a big thing.
• At the last verse Brighella finds a lead in so she takes it out which then we find out that Zanni and Harlequino are lip syncing however they still continue so this leads on to the final not which is done really badly
• However Pantolonie and Doctore thought it was beautiful so they start crying and could throw roses at Zanni and Harlequino
• After this the fire alarm starts going off which could lead into the fire scene

Polishing the scene

Today we polished the scene which we was working on last lesson. We started off by doing a simple warm-up so we are physically ready for our characters movements. We firstly ran through the whole scene unfortunately it was messy, I think this was because we haven't performed it for a while, therefore we decided to go through the scene and make adjustments using forum theater. As I was too attached to the audience I didn't notice when Columbina turned therefore they suggested to make a subtle noise to give me time to stop struggling and try to impress her. I also got told I should act more innocent so instead of actually trying to impress Columbina look innocent and give a looking saying "am I doing it right" as this will give an awe affect from the audience to Zanni . The also suggested to use a prop to make it more clear that I put glue in my hair. After that the first half of the scene was really good however I think we still need to practice in order to get the scene to be funnier and more entertaining.

After the working on mine and Rhiannon's bit we decided to work on the second where The Doctor comes (Oliver Kelly). This scene was however it was hard to maintain the illusion that Columbina's hand is stuck on Zanni's head we did this by Zanni holding Columbina's hand. We also thought that everyone getting stuck to each other happend too fast therefore we slowed the process down we did this by after Doctore getting stuck on Columbina, Zanni goes to Columbina in slow motion to say "thank you" whilst the other two are trying to stop which then makes all of them stuck to eachother. Then we improved Il Capitano's entrance by having him on a fake noise I think its will be funny as it suits Il Capitano and also suits the style of Commedia dell'arte. We also devised the end of the scene where Harlequin comes in and scares Il Capitano this results into Il Capitano jumping into Doctore's arms and all of them fall over we all ask for help but Harlquin ignores them as he is a very silly characters and walks off

Know this scene is coming together next lesson we would like to devise a new scene.

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.

The mask are now finished!

For the last few lessons we have been creating our masks and here is the outcome:
 The reason I have got a long nose is to show that my character is stupid, as in Commedia dell'arte the characters with the longer noses were known to be the more stupid ones. I chose to add the wrinkles on thehead to show exhasution I may be one of the youngest stock characters however I'm the one who work the hardest out of the others, obiously because Zanni's have to obey their master and in fact have to obey everyone above him in the heirachy (which is everyone). You cant see this but I have also moulded bags under his eyes just to make sure that everyone knows how tired he is, I also purposefully made the mask far from perfect as no mask in Commedia dell'arte was erfect is also symbolises how Zanni is (childish, greedy, pushover). I like the colour of my mask as it is very bland again relating to Zanni as a person.also the colour stands out from all of the other characters which makes it easy to recognise the character.

Improving our characters using Lazzi

This lesson we got given the task to make a short lazzi as this will help our characterisation of the stock characters. I got paired up with Lorna who is Brighella, as Brighella's nature is very bossy we decided to make a lazzi of her bossing me around:

• Starts of with Zanni centre stage sleeping, Brighella walks in and tries to wake up Zanni he gets annoyed and goes on a massive clicking frenzy
• He then then kicked me as it was a way to get her own back which wakes up Zanni
• Zanni is frightend and tries to run away from him however the heirachy requires him to listen to Brighella
• Brighella tells him to do a set of tasks which Zanni is pretending to listen
• when Brighella wants him to do those tasks Zanni gets confused and copies him, which makes Brighella angry and in result pushes him
• Zanni falls asleep again when Brighella leaves, he comes back and pushes him over again

Our piece was funny however individually I need to make sure that the audience can see my mask and I need to maintain my stance as it reminds the audience of who I am and my place in the hierarchy.

At the end of the lesson we decided to go through the opening scene again which was better as we understood our characters more, next lesson we will create our masks.

Creating the opening scene

To start of this lesson we performed our improvised scenes which we came up with last lesson

Ollie' and Lewis' scene was really good however I think they should work more on movement to portray more of a slapstick comedy effect. The feedback for our scene was very good however everyone said that I need a higher pitch to make the first actor more feminine, I will practice this at home. Lorna's Rob's and Charlie's scene was really funny I think it was funny as there was a massive contrast of personalties. Our feedback is that during the sword fight they should be more vocal so the audience can tell the emotions of the characters just from their voice,

We then decided to make the opening of the perfromance:

• It starts with Harlequin on floor dead and Zanni just sleeping on stage left
• Brighella enters and notices the dead body and calls for help
• Doctor enters checks for a pulse and announces Harlequins death
• Brighella gets upset as Harlequin is his brother
• Pantolonie comes in and notices that Harlequin is dead and blames Brighella
• Il Captano gets blamed by Brighella which leads on to a story about Columbina so she gets blamed
• Columbina gets flirty with everyone and they fall for her and then she blames Zanni
• Zanni wakes up and notices the dead body which he tries to eat but Brighella stops him
• Pantolonie asks Zanni and he blames Columbina
• This leads onto a pointong frenzy shown by the diagram below
• The second pointing makes Zanni confused which leads him to point Harlequin

Next we want to go back to all of the flashbacks and the alibi's of each character. I like this opening scene as there is a lot of opportunities to add comedy for example we could make Doctor ramble on more which could result into Brighella getting annoyed.

The next we need to figure out is who Harlequine going to die, I liked the idea on how everyone wants to kill him and n each flashback he almost dies except for the final one where he could die I also like the idea that he could die from choking on his own food, this would add a comic affect as everyone has spent all the time and effort that actually in fact he died because he was too greedy.

Exploring ideas

This lesson we concentrated on how we can improve our idea and turn it into a performance, we separated into two different groups Group 1: Rob, Rhiannon and I , Group 2: Lorna, Charlie, Lewis and Ollie. As we are in two different this allows different ideas to be heard which can affect the final outcome.

In our group Rhiannon came up with a Brilliant idea: to have a court case to see who would kill Harlequin we expanded the ideas:

• Doctor and Pantalonie could be the judges
• Zanni will the the defendant and his lawyer would be Columbina
• Brighella will be the prosecutor and his lawyer would be Il Capitano
• Harlequin would be the one who gets murdered

This plot gives us many chances to use flashbacks, to show alibi's however it could be too confusing to the audience and they wont understand what is happening. Another problem is that we wouldn't be able to co-operate Harlequin into the story.

We decided to see the other groups ideas their idea consisted of:

• Harlequin is dead on-stage and Brighella finds him she panics
• This leads her to question everyone
• Each character has a flashback on what they was doing earlier that day
• At the end Zanni confess' and gets a promotion

I really like this idea as everyone has been included equally however I think that it's a bit too cliché so if we would do this idea we would have to improve it.

We discussed that Rhiannon's idea was good and we should try it out with a few changes as we needed to add Harlequin into the plot, we decided that the one who should get killed should be Magnifico this is because we don't have to see him in the performance and we haven't casted a Magnifco therefore  no one is left out. This resulted Harlequin being a witness.

So we started t to improvise a scene with the court case idea however it was too slow paced this would result into the audience lacking an interest into the show. Therefore we decided to go to the other group idea, we all splitted off into someone who we would hang out with as a character and started to devise a scene.

I was paired with Rhiannon where we made a Lovers scene, this included us exchanging kisses using a fake bow and arrow, I think the lovers will be hard as we cant touch each other. Next lesson we will perform this to the rest of the class.

Mask reseach

   
I like this mask as it shows how tired Zanni is from the folds in his skin. I also like the simplicity of it at symbolizes the simplicity of Zanni, however I would like to give him a thinner nose and maybe a bit longer, I would also make his eyes neutral instead of sad showing how confused he can get all the time, I think Zanni is not a depressed character so he shouldn't always look sad.






I prefer this mask as the eyes are big this shows how greedy Zanni could be. I also like the length of the nose as it shows that the Zanni is stupid and I want my Zanni to be incredibly stupid. However i think he should have a darker colour like the first picture, and I think there should be more folds around and under the eyes to show that he is exhausted.




I like the glamorization of this mask however I don't think it'll suit my Zanni as he is very simple and the different colurs and fabrics adds too much depth into the mask however I like the depth of the eyes and the folds around the left eye as it shows exhaustion.








This is an example of something I defiantly don't want I think this mask is too simple and shows no characterization except for the nose which I think is too wide that it looks weird. I aslo dont like the colour of the mask I think its too dark.








I now know what I want for my mask I want the shape of the second mask, I also like the nose of that one as the longer the nose the more stupid he is. I like the dirt colour of the first mask as it shows that he works hard and he is peasant-like. And I like the eyes on the second mask however could be a bit smaller and have folds on it like the right side of the third mask.

Getting into character

This lesson we concentrated more on characterization this is because we don't need to worry about plot too much as Commedia dell'arte is mostly improvised.

As I've already done research I know how I would like to move as Zanni:

• Lead from nose as he is curious
• Has hunchback as this is to show he has the least power out of all of the stock characters
• Arms half lifted up
• Have toes pointed and foot outwards to make him look more like a trickster
• Always swap my support leg when I'm on one foot
• Quick movements showing curiosity

I think his stance is very difficult however I will keep trying until I think it has been perfected. After this we did a task where we saw how other people would walk as our character this gave us a variety of interpretations and this led us to change the movement to improve. I really liked how Lorna moved she was always twitching her head which showed that he is amazed by everything, I also like how high her keens where when she was walking or running I'm defiantly adding this to my Zanni to show more characterization.

For the first actor he moves very feminine like and all of his movements are OTT and fluent this was to show how much he loved his lover. The lovers actually never touch each other in Commedia dell'arte this gives us a chance to do funny lazzi blowing kisses to each other, I'll do some research into him later.

For next lesson we will start to design our masks for our characters

Creating the masks

Today we created the masks with Plaster Paris, this material is used to a cast for people who break their bones.

Firstly put coconut oil on our faces ensuring that the plaster paris wont affect our skin. Then we put wrt kitchen roll over our eyes so it wont get over our eyes, and then we added three layers of it onto onto the mouth upwards. We needed to make sure the face was sculpted especailly the eyes so the audience would notice the distinctive feautures of the mask.

Next lesoon over the half term we will decide who will be who.

Coming up with ideas

Today we presented our characters to the rest of the group this is so we have a clear understanding on what we can do with each character, I f we didn't know anyone else chatterer we wouldn't be able to make a well suited plot for everyone.

After this we decided that we need to make a plot we firstly wanted to decide what plot we want for our piece, so we made a hierarchy of the stock characters in our piece.I then told everyone the idea of a murder mystery. Everyone liked the idea but now we need to develop it.

So the next thing we need to decide was who is going to be killed the most suitable participant was Harlequino as he annoys everyone and seems to do nothing, therefore everyone can be suspect as no one really likes him.

The next thing we did was to establish the relationships with everyone so we have a clear idea of who will hang out with who here's the relationships for Zanni:

He is basically the servant of everyone however develops a relationship with Columbina as she is the only one who is nice to him.

1st actor relationships:

He is in love with 1st actress
He is also Pantolonie's son
Everyone else is jelousy of him as they also have a crush on 1st actress but she only likes 1st actor

Next lesson we will decide who will be the killer and if anyone else would be killed off

Research into Zanni

Here's the research I've been doing for my character:

The Zanni’s costume usually consists of white baggy clothing.[8] This was similar to the dress of peasants and farmworkers of the time.[1] The Zanni are also known to sport a peaked hat and a wooden sword.[9] The Zanni at first wore a full faced carnival mask, but because of the need for dialogue between Pantalone and the Zanni, the bottom of the mask was hinged and eventually cut away altogether. The longer the nose of the Zanni, the more stupid he is said to be.[8]

A Zanni is known to take and briefly keep items that belong to someone else. Some items that the Zanni would keep would be bags, letters, valuables, or food.[8]

The stance of Zanni has a “lowered centre of gravity” either from the earth or from carrying heavy bags and chairs. Zanni’s back is arched when he stands up and his knees are bent and apart with splayed feet. The support knee is bent and the other leg is extended with his toe pointed. He switches his feet a lot while speaking or listening within the same position, and without his head moving up and down. Zanni’s elbows are usually bent and arms half lifted

The Zanni is loud and his voice is coarse due to making a living outdoors trying to be heard in a market or busy street.

The earliest literary evidence portrays Zanni as a servant of Pantalone.[1] Of all of the commedia archetypes, Zanni’s survival instinct is the strongest. Zanni is also always hungry which leads to a vision of Utopia where “everything is comestible, reminiscent of the followers of gluttony in carnival processions”.[Note 2] A Zanni also has an animistic view of the world in that he senses a spirit in everything, so it could be eaten. Zanni is ignorant, loutish, and has no self-awareness. The simple act of thinking does not seem to be natural to Zanni. He is a very faithful individual who prefers to live in the present day. Zanni never looks for a place to sleep it just seems to happen to him often in situations where it shouldn’t. Lastly, all of his reactions are completely emotional.[13]


Zanni’s relationship to the audience is that he is the most sympathetic character and treats the audience collectively so he is able to address the audience directly. Zanni contributes to the plot by being the “principal contributor to any confusion”.[13

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanni

This have cleared my mind on how I should act as Zanni I think this is a very difficult role as he needs to be OTT which I find very difficult, however I like the fact that he has a good relationship with the audience. I think the most time consuming part would be the movement of Zanni so the fierts thing I'm going to try to master is his movements.

Research into Commedia Dell'arte

This lesson we conducted some research into Commedia Dell'arte. This is so we have a more clear understanding of the form of theater here's what I researched:

Conventional plot lines were written on themes of sex, jealousy, love and old age. Many of the basic plot elements can be traced back to the Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence, some of which were themselves translations of lost Greek comedies of the 4th century BC. However, it is more probable that the comici used contemporary novella, or, traditional sources as well, and drew from current events and local news of the day. Not all scenari were comic, there were some mixed forms and even tragedies. Shakespeare's The Tempest is drawn from a popular scenario in the Scala collection, his Polonius (Hamlet) is drawn from Pantalone, and his clowns bear homage to the zanni.

Comici performed written comedies at court. Song and dance were widely used, and a number of innamorata were skilled madrigalists, a song form that uses chromatics and close harmonies. Audiences came to see the performers, with plot lines becoming secondary to the performance. Among the great innamorate, Isabella Andreini was perhaps the most widely known, and a medallion dedicated to her reads "eternal fame". Tristano Martinelli achieved international fame as the first of the great Arlecchinos, and was honored by the Medici and the Queen of France. Performers made use of well-rehearsed jokes and stock physical gags, known as lazzi and concetti, as well as on-the-spot improvised and interpolated episodes and routines, called burle (singular burla, Italian for joke), usually involving a practical joke.

Since the productions were improvised, dialogue and action could easily be changed to satirize local scandals, current events, or regional tastes, while still using old jokes and punchlines. Characters were identified by costumes, masks, and props, such as a type of baton known as a slapstick. These characters included the forebears of the modern clown, namely Harlequin (arlecchino) and Zanni.

The classic, traditional plot is that the innamorati are in love and wish to be married, but one elder (vecchio) or several elders (vecchi) are preventing this from happening, leading the lovers to ask one or more zanni (eccentric servants) for help. Typically the story ends happily, with the marriage of the innamorati and forgiveness for any wrongdoings. There are countless variations on this story, as well as many that diverge wholly from the structure, such as a well-known story about Arlecchino becoming mysteriously pregnant, or the Punch and Judy scenario.

While generally personally unscripted, the performances often were based on scenarios that gave some semblance of plot to the largely improvised format. The Flaminio Scala scenarios, published in the early 17th century, are the most widely known collection and representative of its most esteemed compagnia, I Gelosi.

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commedia_dell%27arte

The research has made me think of possible scenarios which we could do I quite like the idea of a murder mystery inspired piece, I think this is very controversial as it hasn't been done before and we could add a lot of slap stick comedy into it.

I also thought of a scenario where everyone could do a April fools inspired piece and everyone could gang up on Zanni, this is very typical and could be funny but I'm worried that it could be too cliche.

I decided to look up more Lazzi which we could possibly use for our piece:

Fire Lazzo
At the beginning of the meal, Harlequin arrives in a panic, saying that the kitchen is on fire. Don Juan and all the valets run there. In the meantime, Harlequin sits down and eats all he can. Optionally, when the others return complaining that there was no fire, Harlequin replies: “I said THE kitchen was on fire. I didn’t mean YOUR kitchen was on fire.”

Kiss and Puke Lazzo
One of the women is obligated to kiss the vecchio. Pantalone announces that his eyes are closed and that he expects a big, wet, sloppy one. The first woman (obligated to do the kissing) shoves the second woman toward Pantalone while moving away to puke at the thought of kissing the vecchio. The second woman (equally disgusted) blows a kiss at the vecchio. The vecchio feels the blown kiss and is enraptured (he should be cued audibly). The second woman joins the first in puking. The vecchio notices the first woman puking, brags on his sexual prowess being to much for her, and performs some lewd physical action. The first woman rises/turns just in time to see the vecchio performing the lewd action, is disgusted again, and returns to puking. Alternately, when the vecchio performs the action, he dislocates his hip.

https://sites.google.com/site/italiancommedia/lazzi

I like these to Lazzi and we could possibly consider to add these in to our own piece.

We also got told who is who for our piece:
James: 1st actor/ Zanni
Rhiannon: 1st actress/ Columbina
Lewis: Pantolonie
Lorna: Brighella
Charlie: Harliqueno
Ollie: Doctore
Robert: Il Capitano

For next lesson we will conduct research for our characters.

Commedia dell'arte

Our new unit is Commedia dell'arte, this at form of theater which is believed to be made back in the 16th century in Italy. This form of theater is known to use masks. The closest translation is 'comedy of craft' this form of theater is revolutionary for improvisation and comedy.Most Commedia dell'arte scenarios are based on the stock characters:

In this hierarchy you can see who is the king and who is the peasent.The first character is

Zanni:the peasent of  Commedia dell'arte, he is the most hated character by the other stock characters, how ever the most symphsised  character in the whole of Commedia dell'arte.

Captain: he is the second lowest however sen to be a hero, however he ascts he is all big when he gets in a fight he wimpers out of it

Brighella: He is the head of the servants, he is not stupid as Zanni therfore promoted to head servant, he is very devious and he has known to murder to get his own way

Harlequino: he is the brother to Brughella however the opposite, he listens to Magnifco but no one else, he is always hungry and is described to be a party animal

Columbina: she is connected to everone somehow and she doesnt wear a mask, she likes to to be flirty to get her own way

Pantolonie: he is a retired Magnifco, who is known toi be very grouchy, he is bestmates with doctore, and he also likes to protect his oney pouch

Doctor: He is described to know everthing but yet to know nothing, he also argues a lot with Pantolonie, he also knows how to use poison

1st actor and actress: they also dont wear mask, they are like Romeo and Juliet however they never touch eachother they are normally the son or daughter of Pantolonie and Doctor

Magnifco: he is the boss, he can do anything he wants, he's known to be cruel especially to Zanni

This heirachy is very important to any show put on any show with the style of Commedia dell'arte. This type of thatre is what created comedy, they normally spoke in gromolote so anybody can understand them.

Gromolote is a made up language the main point of it is to use words to express emotion. Therfore anyone can understand what they are saying.Commedia dell'arte needs to be over the top to show the audience what is happning.

Commedia dell'arte

Now we have Finished Fantatstic Mr Fox we move on to a new unit, this unit is called Commedia dell'arte, this is a special form of thatre I'll make a seperate post on it.

We started off by speaking Gromolot, I found this very hard as you have to convey your emotion without words , and you have to somehow have to engage and for the audience to understand what is happening without speaking, this rquires very OTT movemnets and facial expressions this also made me think of how I can just use my voice to convey more emnotions.

Today we learnt 4 of the main stock characters and how they move: Magnifco, Zanni, Brighella, Harlequino

Magnifco: He is very up right and smart therfore he takes his time to get stuff, he leads from his chess and tends to look down to everyone

Zanni: has a arched back, leads from his nose, and he is curious about everything therfore finds everything entertaing, he stupid so he may also find things very scary

After that we decided to interact, and their relationship is the most contraversal in Commedia dell'arte , their relationship consists of worship and commands, as Magnifco doesnt like Zanni he is sometimes very abusive with him, As Zanni is the at the bottom he has to obey Magnifco or there will be a big out come

Brighella: Arched back like Zanni however not as arched, leads from head as he is smart, walks slowly as she is cunning and thinks a lot, he has his arms up by his chest and looks down on people who is below him

Harlquino: Arched back like Brigehlla, but he is very laid back and doesnt really care about anything, he leads from his hips and he is up himself, he also seems to be hungry all the time, he'll listen to people but when they are gone he wont do what he is told

We then experimented with their relationshp, they are at the same place in the pecking order which means they dont have to obey eachother, however Brighella gets irrated by Harlquino as he never listens she will stry to boss him around but he wont listen, Brighella gets really annoyed and may result in violence

After this we got put into to groups and experimented the relationships. I found this a bit confusing however it is intresting I'm looking forward to learning more characters. I think this unit will help me with my movements and voice as a whole.