Comedia Del arte

We started studying Comedia del arte, an art form that originated in Italy in the 16th century. It is completely improvised, but includes certain stalk characters, like the Zani or the Pantalone. This particular art from died down for many years and was picked up again after the 1950’s.
What surprised me the most is that at first I thought that since it was a very old theater it would be a little boring to study. Not necessarily to act it out but studying it would be extremely boring. Still, I was able to link Comedia to many of the T.V. shows from today, like for example SpongeBob Squarepants, or one of my personal favorites, Drake and Josh. The original form requires masks to help the audience identify each character onstage and to easily differentiate the Arlequin from the Pantalone from the aristocrats and so on. Now the masks aren’t required, but the characters are still very well portrayed. For example, in SpongeBob Squarepants, SpongeBob and Patrick Star would be the shows Zanni’s whereas Mr. Krab would be the aristocrat, and his daughter, Pearl, would be the young lover. Mr. Krab also plays a lover part in one episode with SpongeBob’s driving teacher, Mrs. Puff. Not only that one but many of the T.V. shows I watch today have a lot to do with Comedia Del Arte.
Up till now we’ve studied two characters; the Zanni and the lovers.
The Zanni is the typical stupid funny and dramatic character we watch all the time, whether it’s on a television show or a play. The Zanni is too stupid to think logically. He thinks about what he wants at the moment, and that is usually food or sleep. He guides himself according to what he smells and what he sees and doesn’t process information. Because the Zanni is unable to look ahead, he can’t fall in love, very much like the lovers.
The lovers aren’t really in love, but they love the idea of saying they are in love. They like the feeling of having someone to flirt with, and therefore it’s usually love at first sight, like Romeo and Juliet. In many of the Comedia visions, the lovers see each other, fall in love, and then there’s some problem in which either somebody tries to keep them away, or they get mad at each other, but it’s only a matter of time before they forgive each other and reunite.
Though the Zanni is the funniest character, I like the lovers better. The Zannis act stupid throughout, and they make the audience laugh, but the real story is on how the lovers are so into each other. The lovers are extremely dramatic, coming up with the biggest clichés in order to satisfy the other, and sending the message that they love each other.
We still have a lot of other characters to look at, so I’ll probably end up changing my mind about the lovers. Still Comedia del Arte is really interesting to study. Making links between that art and what I see today is fun, and there’s a lot to learn form Comedia.