Commedia Dell'arte

What is the commedia dell'arte?

• Commedia dell'arte is a theatrical form characterized by clever scripts written by famous play writers  and all male characters that emerged in Scotland in the seventeenth century and rapidly gained popularity throughout England.
• Commedia dell'arte is a theatrical form characterized by improvised dialogue and a cast of colorful stock characters that emerged in northern Italy in the fifteenth century and rapidly gained popularity throughout Europe.
• Commedia dell'arte is a theatrical form characterized by dramatic entertainment, originating in Rome, in which performers express meaning through gestures accompanied by music.  It gained popularity in the fourteenth century. 

What is "Commedia Dell'arte" mean translated?

• comedy of skills
• comedy of art
• comedy of the profession 
• all of the above

What is a "stock character"?

• A character invented by a playwrite from their imagination. 
• A character that is based on a common social steryotype.
• A character based on a real life person, usually a politician or royalty. 

Why do the actors of commedia dell'arte wear masks?

• To disguise who they really were in real life; to hide their true identity. 
• Because they didn't want people to know they were women. 
• To quickly and easily be recongizable to the audience as a certain character. 

What about staging and props?

• Commedia dell'arte used quite specific and beautiful stage scenery and complicated props. 
• Often the performances were done on the street, so no scenery or props were needed besides the masks the actors wore. 
• Commedia dell'arte was full of incredibly designed props, but very little stage decoration. Mostly just a black back drop. 

Commedia dell'arte performers were:

• Skilled actors who also needed to be able to sing and dance. 
• Usually novice actors who just need to be able to juggle and do headstands and other acrobatics. 
• Actors who were able to follow a script closely and were of high social standing.