Theatre History Overview - Part 4 - Commedia dell'Arte

Commedia dell'arte literally means "Comedy of Art" or "Comedy of the Profession." (A profession is an "art" such as a doctor practices the art of medicine). This art form started in 16th century Italy and lasted through the 18th century.

Most of the plays were improvised. The actors would play off of each other and off of the reactions from the audience to continue the story. However, there were set stories known as lazzi, so the actors could follow a basic script. They would commit these stories to memory and would be able to improvise on the stories. If there was a lull, they could pick up where they were in the story and then continue to improvise.

In general, the actors wore masks. This meant that the audience had to guage the emotions and feelings of the actors through the movements of their bodies. The actors were also assigned stock characters. Each actor knew what character he would always be playing.

The staging was minimal in commedia dell'arte. There was very little to a set, sometimes it was just wherever the actors were performing. Props were used extensively, though. These could be anything from animals to sticks. In fact the acrobatic, witty, amorous childlike character carried two sticks that when hit together made a loud noise. This gave rise to the term "slapstick."

Music was often included in commedia dell'arte. This required that all actors had musical skills. At the end of a performance, the audience would often join the merrymaking.

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