Commedia dell'Arte; The Italian fable pt 1: Pinocchio

2. Commedia dell'arte
• Commedia dell'Arte is a form of theater
characterized by masked "types" which began
in Italy in the 16th century.
• It was responsible for the advent of the
actress and improvised performances based
on sketches or scenarios.

3. The masks

4. Italian theater historians, such as Roberto
Tessari, Ferdinando Taviani, and Luciano
Pinto believe commedia developed as a
response to the political and economic
crisis of the 14th century and, as a
consequence, became the first entirely
professional form of theater.

5. • The performers played on outside, temporary
stages, and relied on various props (robbe) in
place of extensive scenery.

6. The better troupes were patronized by nobility, and during
carnival period might be funded by the various towns or cities, in
which they played.

7. • Extra funds were received by donations
(essentially passing the hat) so anyone could
view the performance free of charge.
• Key to the success of the commedia was the
ability of the performers to travel to achieve
fame and financial success.

8. The characters of the
commedia usually
represent fixed [social]
types, stock characters,
such as foolish old men,
devious servants, or
military officers full of
false bravado.

9. Arlecchino

10. Arlecchino is the
most popularly
known of the zanni
or comic servant
characters from the
Italian Commedia
dell'arte and its
descendant, the
Harlequinade.

11. Origins
• One of the origins postulated for the modern
Harlequin is Hellequin, a stock character in
French passion plays.
• Hellequin, a black-faced emissary of the devil,
is said to have roamed the countryside with a
group of demons chasing the damned souls of
evil people to Hell.

12. • illustrations of Arlecchino have only been
dated as far back as 1572
• some say the name comes from Dante's
Inferno, XXI, XXII and XXIII; one of the devils in
Hell having the name Alichino.

13. The Harlequin
character may have
been based on or
influenced by the
Zanni archetype
who, although a
slow thinker, was
acrobatic and
nimble.

14. Harlequin's distinctive
motley costume may be
a stylized variant of
Zanni's plain white
garb, designed to
reflect the ad-hoc
patching necessary to
prevent the garment's
degradation.

15. He is typically cast as the
servant of an innamorato
or vecchio much to the
detriment of the plans of
his master.
Arlecchino often had a
love interest in the person
of Colombina, or in older
plays any of the Soubrette
roles, and his lust for her
was only superseded by
his desire for food and
fear of his master.

16. PULCINELLA

17. Pulcinella is a classical
character that
originated in the
commedia dell'arte of
the 17th century and
became a stock
character in Neapolitan
puppetry.

18. The name
• His name, from Italian pulcino ('chick'), refers
to his distinguishing feature: a long beaklike
nose.
• According to another version, Pulcinella
derived from the name of Puccio d'Aniello, a
peasant of Acerra, who was portrayed in a
famous picture attributed to Annibale
Carracci, and indeed characterized by a long
nose.

20. He’s always dressed in white with a black mask
(hence conciliating the opposites of life and
death)

21. Pulcinella often carries around macaroni and a
wooden spoon. His traditional temperament is
to be mean, vicious, and crafty and his main
mode of defense is to pretend to be too stupid
to know what's going on.

22. PINOCCHIO

23. The story
• The Adventures of Pinocchio is a novel for
children by Italian author Carlo Collodi,
written in Florence.
• It is about the mischievous adventures of
Pinocchio, an animated marionette, and his
poor father, a woodcarver named Geppetto.

24. • The first half was originally a serial between
1881 and 1883, and then later completed as a
book for children in February 1883.
• Pinocchio's contains the hard realities of the
need for food, shelter, and the basic measures
of daily life.
• The setting of the story is in fact the very real
Tuscan area of Italy as a background.

25. The story's Italian
language is peppered
with Florentine dialect
features, such as the
protagonist's
Florentine name.

26. Collodi originally had not
intended the novel as
children's literature; the
ending was unhappy and
allegorically dealt with
serious themes. In the
original, serialized
version, Pinocchio dies a
gruesome death—
hanged for his
innumerable faults, at
the end of Chapter 15.

27. At the request of his
editor, Collodi added
chapters 16–36, in which
the Fairy with Turquoise
Hair rescues Pinocchio
and eventually
transforms him into a
real boy, when he
acquires a deeper
understanding of himself,
making the story suitable
for children.