Commedia dell’Arte: The Essential Scenario - Actors Freedom
Commedia dell’Arte improvisation is evident in our entire entertainment industry. Stock characters, history, scenario, movement, prop work, object manipulation, voice work and more are still used. It is richly evident in the performances of “Winters Tale” and “The Merchant of Venice,” performed in the 2010 of The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theatre. “The Merchant of Venice,” moved on to Broadway.
We know Commedia dell’Arte was improvised from scenarii because of the church censors of the 1500 to 1600’s. One church censor’s letter complains about how “it is impossible to censor them,” since every show is different. After the censor would tell them not to do something, the actors would come up with even more outrageous ways around it.
Although every Commedia dell’Arte performance was based on a scenario, every show was freshly improvised. Straight actors of the 1600’s would perform scripted plays. In letters of the time theCommedia dell’Arte actors’ complain about “the unbelievability of going on stage and saying the same words every show!” It was unthinkable for the Commedia dell’Arte player to go on stage and not risk jumping into the void! Some teachers and writers today now claim Commedia dell’Arte was not that improvised, that everything was pretty much set. Historical evidence contradicts this.
Roving Classical Commedia University* is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Founded in the summer of 2001 by Hovey Burgess and myself, designed to give students a firm grounding in Classical Commedia dell'Arte. Roving Classical Commedia University* offers an integrated Commedia dell'Arte program of workshops in the US and internationally of history, scenarios, characters and scatology. Together with special guest teachers, students also learn mask performance, improvisation, mime & movement, rhythm, Hébertism, dance & music. Other skills covered are prop manipulation, juggling, lazzi, mask making and more. Participants learn Commedia dell’Arte as close as possible to how we believe it was performed in the mid-late 1500’s.
How does this art form from the mid to late 1500’s help and inform us almost five hundred years later?
A basic element of Commedia dell’Arte is working with a scenario. The Commedia dell’Arte actor improvises from action point to action point. Finding a good translation of an Italian scenario in English for the actor is not easy. Understanding a working scenario that the Commedia dell’Arte actors worked with is essential.
Example: Take a play; remove all the dialogue, replacing it with condensed basic motivated action and what each character is responsible for performing on stage. Replace and condense lines further with specific action points. Specify what each character needs to accomplish to inform and move the story forward. Add lazzi moments that are required or hinted at. Lazzi is a bit of rehearsed stage business, which can be physical, musical, verbal, acrobatic or otherwise. My understanding is that it is almost always well rehearsed choreographed and memorized.
Who appears in each scene is usually clearly listed in the left hand margins of the scenario. Actors easily see when they need to come on stage and what their tasks are. If you have a 90 page play, the scenario would be about 5 to 7 pages. This tells us just how condensed scenarii are, along with how free the Commedia dell’Arte actors have to be to create within the scenario. Actors can bring this same freedom into their work today.
The Commedia dell’Arte actor knows his or her character, along with their unique habits and eccentricities, understanding their assignment in the scenario, along with each beat or action point that needs to be accomplished on stage. They’re always ready to jump into the “improvisational void,” saying yes to any and all action their counterparts throw at them. They remember the story line points, hitting each beat to move the plot and action forward.
The Commedia dell’Arte actors can go off on tangents but they always perform their action points that are needed with their fellow actors. It’s a bit like a Talmudic debate. One makes a point and everyone can go off on far reaching tangents. Always listening to each other they return to the central point and action. It is essential to work with and not against your fellow players. There are those wonderful times today when you work “with” your fellow actors as the Commedia dell’Arte actors did in the 1500 to 1600’s. Most Commedia dell’Arte companies had ten players, as the scenarii had ten characters. Working with each other is not a choice, it is vital.
At an audition, look at a script in terms of scenario and what needs to be accomplished using the author’s words. Being real is vital. If you are wearing a mask and pretending rather than being totally in the moment, the mask will fall – meaning it will look like there is a mask covering your face, and you will not become the character. When one is totally in the mask all the audience sees is your total character. This is the state of being one strives for. At some auditions casting directors may ask you to improvise – Commedia dell’Arte tools come in very handy at this point.
Another basic tool for the Commedia dell’Arte actor is that a fellow actor never directs or tells their fellow actors what to do. This limits the possibilities of improvisation. Improvisation with goals can result in the best drama and comedy. The Commedia dell’Arte actor always builds on what is present and given in the moment. They never says no. It’s always “yes” to all action and situations. Commedia dell’Arte players live in risk, falling into that “void”, like all theater should.
In a film audition, go over the script – memorize its action points so you will be able to play within the scenario of the script. One moment during an improvisation can get you the role. Risking and risking wisely are vital.
When you read some scenarii of Flaminio Scala’s “Scenarios of the Commedia dell’Arte” you might immediately think, this sounds like Shakespeare. The second act of “A Winters Tale” is straight from the Commedia dell’Arte with Brighella and Arlecchino. In the 2010 NY Shakespeare Festival in the Park production, Autolycus “played by Hamish Linklater” was an excellent Brighella. Arlecchino played by Max Wright in the guise of the Shepard’s son performing the lazzi of Brighella stole everything from Arlecchino including his pants and glasses. Brighella was also known for having many women. In “The Merchant of Venice,” there is Dottore Graziano, right out of Commedia dell’Arte who is known for talking endlessly – his name is even the same.
Pantalone worries about his money and his daughter. Of course the daughter runs off with the lover that her father objects to. Everyone is always trying to steal Pantalone’s money; in this case it is Shylock as Pantalone, played by Al Pacino. At the end of the play you have women dressing up as men and rescuing their lovers from danger. A woman turning the situation around is very Isabella Andreini. Isabella Andreini is known as the first professional actress, dying with the birth of her seventh child in 1604. She always turned the tables on Commedia dell’Arte situations. Her inspired performances and writings gave women in the 1500 to 1600’s the liberation to realize their own power and effect change in their own lives.
During film shoots when you are playing a character with a director giving you freedom, you may experience Commedia dell’Arte improvisation within the scenario of the scene. Take what the director tells you about the character and scenes, work with the lines, know your parameters and key points to hit. On the television set of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” there is a sense of an improvised scenario. Actors improvise the same scene several times always hitting the same necessary points that are needed. I’ve had directors use their film script as a Commedia dell’Arte scenario.
Jump into the void with your fellow actors. If you’re given a prop, use it. This risk can be the most powerful, joyful, side splitting, moving theatre or film experiences you and your audience can have.
It may seem safer to have everything rehearsed and set, assuring the success of every moment, but it takes away the “risk and joy” of failure. Risk is key. Why are you doing theatre? You want safety…? This is theater, live theater.
Enjoy the improvisational void and actor’s freedom, risking wisely.• 2010
© Copyright 2010 Stanley Allan Sherman
Published with the permission of the author.
(*totally unaccredited)
Stanley Allan Sherman’s websites are
Mask Arts Company www.maskarts.com
Roving Classical Commedia University* www.commediau.com
Stanley Allan Sherman has been performing and teaching since the early 70’s. He is a member of AEA, SAG, AFTRA and ATAC. On NBC's "Late Night with Conan O’Brien" he appeared in 41 comedy bits. His Critics Choice "Aero Show" ran in LA for 6 months and toured the country for over 15 years. He was in the original cast of the Off Broadway show "Grandma Sylvia's Funeral." Stanley has directed, “Duet for Solo Voice”, developed and directed "Bride of Beowolf," which toured for many years, and wrote the plays “Golem of Gavah” and “Shadows”. He coaches, directs and develops clown and physical theater shows. As a master leather craftsman specializing in theater masks, he had the longest running exhibit in the history of NY Public Library & Museum of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. He created the world famous "Mankind Mask" for the World Wrestling Federation and sells custom fitted leather clown noses, neoprene and leather masks around the world. He is a co-founder of Roving Classical Commedia University* (*totally unaccredited) teaching Commedia dell' Arte with winter and summer intensives as well as conducting workshops in the US and internationally.
Stanley teaches mask making, mime, clown, mask technique and the art of creating original material. He is a Graduate of Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France. To contact Stanley Allan Sherman please visit Mask Arts Company www.maskarts.com stanley@maskarts.com Roving Classical Commedia University* (*totally unaccredited) www.commediau.com
