Comedia Types (Icons of Euopean Street theatre)

Since I may use these themes or terms (no doubt misspelled), I thought I'd put them up. I'm relaying what my partner learned any errors are my own. This is a very brief overview.Comedia is the old, very old, Euorpean street theatre. It's a theater about status - basically, it's political street theater. Esseintially, Comidia are plays of 'Masters and Servants' and developed in the early Rennisance. It's mask work - all the characters have very spesific styles of mask, dress and voice. The mask features and the carictures of Comedia can be found in Shakespeare, silent movies, books and helps shape modern American and European stereotypes.Vecchi are the old men; they have all the social status. They are the authority figures and create obstacles that must be overcome in the process of the show.The t wo traditonal Vecchi are Pantelone - the rich old man with the moneybag between his legs that he's constantly confusing with his balls. He has money, a beautiful daughter (sometimes a son), he's a miser and cares about nothing in the world as much as money. The merchant of venice is a pantelone. Visual: He's skinny and he holds onto things. He's portrayed with a high, complaining voice. Some Comedia actors apply animal types to characters and his is the chick. He has a quick, head bobbing movement and a restless manner. His mask is The other old man is Il Doctorre. He's fat and round instead of angular, low voiced and talks all the time. All he cares about is food and sex. Il Doctorrre is a very stupid man pretending to be smart and has a huge ego. He's very easy to fool. He's the traditional quack. He also has a child. Visual: L'inamorate are the young, maskless romantic heroes. They exist to fall in love, to b e frustrated by the plans of their parents (Il Doctorre and Pantelonne). They are the typical teen-angst characters. They're not too bright either. Their characters are very soap opera and high melodrama.Often in Commedia, the point of the play is to get the star-struck lovers happily married. However, since they aren't very bright themselves they need help. The traditional complexity is that Pantalone falls in love with Il Doctorre's daughter (or vice versa) and is attempting to get her hand in marrige without paying the dowery, while the two children are in love with each other and the girl is desperate to avoid the fate of marrige to the old miser.They need their servants - these are the real movers and shakers of Commedial plays. Called Zannis. Zanni's have long noses and, generally, the longer the noses the stupider they are. In classic Comedia there is always a first servant and a second servant. The firsts are smart and the seconds are not. The major first servants are Brigella and Scappino, the second servants are Arliquino, from whom Harliquin is descended and Columbine. Arliquino is absolutly incapable of thinking - beyond stupid to an almost different creature from a human being. He can do anything, but can't think. He's equivalent to Monkey or, possibly, Cyote.The female equivalnt of Brigella is the older woman - big brea sted, smart and often foul mouthed. Judy, from Punch and Judy is descended from this chracter.Columbina is the female equivalent of Arliquino but, unlike him, she is very smart. She's the smartest character in Commedia. She dresses just like Arliquino but dosen't wear a mask. She's the problem solver (human problems), she's an acrobat, beautiful, young.There are two characters that are not part of the standard hierarchy of master, upper servant and lower servant.Capitano - the mercenary or soldier who's down on his luck, usually a forigener - traditionally in Commedia he's a forigener from the other country that the audience used to fight. He's a braggart, liar, very dumb and a cowardly bully. He's a tale-teller, telling stories about how brave he was, always incredibly outrageous and very vain. He's an angry Baron Muchousen character or an unsympatheic Cyrano character.Visually: Long nosed masks (often shaped like a penis - the shorter his nose is the angrier he is). He wears expensive, ragged clothes. Swaggers and cowers.Pulcinella - (means a one day old chick in dialect Italian). Punch is descended from this character. He's usually either the least sympathetic charcter or the most - occasionally both. He's a sacred fool - he can say the things that no one will say, he can make fun of the people no one dares make fun of and he's the one character that will 'break the fourth wall' and address the audience directly. Pulcinella can take the part of any charcter in Commedia except the lov ers because he cannot be beautiful and he's always married - if his wife is present in the show, its the female brigella character. He talks a lot, can't keep secrets, is very cynical and is either very smart pretending to be dumb or stupid. Visually: He has a hook nosed mask, extremely ugly and physically deformed - either a limp or a hunchback. The single consistent thing about Pulcinella is that he must be grotesque.Pulcine lla is unique in that he exists in other forms of early theater outside of Commedia. There is a turkish character of the same type. And there is a similar image of a hunched back, club-footed character in Roman imagry.While there are clear connections between Punch and Judy shows and Comedia, no one is positive which came first - the Punch and Judy shows or Comedia.