What You Need to Know About Commedia DellArte

What You Need to Know About Commedia Dell'Arte Commedia dellarte, also known as Italian comedy, was a humorous theatrical presentation performed by professional actors who traveled in troupes throughout Italy in the 16th century. Performances took place on temporary stages, mostly on city streets, but occasionally even in court venues. The better troupes - notably Gelosi, Confidenti, and Fedeli - performed in palaces and became internationally famous once they traveled abroad. Music, dance, witty dialogue, and all kinds of trickery contributed to the comic effects. Subsequently, the art form spread throughout Europe, with many of its elements persisting even into the modern theater. Given the vast number of  Italian dialects, how would a touring company make itself understood? Apparently, there was no attempt made to change the performances dialect from region to region. Even when a local company performed, much of the dialogue would not have been understood. Regardless of region, the oft-used character  il Capitano  would have spoken in Spanish,  il Dottore  in Bolognese, and  lArlecchino  in utter gibberish. The focus was placed on physical business, rather than spoken text. Influence The impact of  commedia dell’arte  on European drama can be seen in French pantomime and the English harlequinade. The ensemble companies generally performed in Italy, although a company called the  comà ©die–italienne  was established in Paris in 1661. The  commedia dell’arte  survived the early 18th century only by means of its vast influence on written dramatic forms. Props There were no elaborate sets in  commedia. Staging, for example, was minimalistic, with rarely anything more than one market or street scene, and the stages were frequently temporary outdoor structures. Instead, great use was made of props including animals, food, furniture, watering devices, and weapons. The character  Arlecchino  bore two sticks tied together, which made a loud noise on impact. This gave birth to the word slapstick. Improvisation In spite of its outwardly anarchic spirit, commedia dellarte  was a highly disciplined art requiring both virtuosity and a strong sense of ensemble playing. The unique talent of  commedia  actors was to improvise comedy around a pre-established scenario. Throughout the act, they responded to each other, or to the audiences reaction, and made use of  lazzi  (special rehearsed routines that could be inserted into the plays at convenient points to heighten the comedy), musical numbers, and impromptu dialogue to vary the happenings on stage. Physical Theater Masks forced actors to project their characters emotions through the body. Leaps, tumbles, stock gags (burle  and  lazzi), obscene gestures, and slapstick antics were incorporated into their acts. Stock Characters The actors of the  commedia  represented fixed social types. These types included  tipi fissi, for example, foolish old men, devious servants, or military officers full of false bravado. Characters such as Pantalone (the miserly Venetian merchant), Dottore Gratiano (the pedant from Bologna), or Arlecchino (the mischievous servant from Bergamo), began as satires on Italian types and became the archetypes of many of the favorite characters of 17th- and 18th-century European theatre. Arlecchino  was the most famous. He was an acrobat, a wit, childlike, and amorous. He wore a cat-like mask and motley-colored clothes and carried a bat or wooden sword.Brighella  was  Arlecchinos  crony. He was more roguish and sophisticated, a cowardly villain who would do anything for money.Il Capitano  (the captain) was a caricature of the professional soldier - bold, swaggering, and cowardly.Il Dottore  (the doctor) was a caricature of learning who was pompous and fraudulent.Pantalone  was a caricature of the Venetian merchant, rich and retired, mean and miserly, with a young wife or an adventurous daughter.Pedrolino  was a white-faced, moonstruck dreamer and the forerunner of the modern clown.Pulcinella, as seen in the  English Punch and Judy shows, was a dwarfish humpback with a crooked nose. He was a cruel bachelor who chased pretty girls.Scarramuccia, dressed in black and carrying a pointed sword, was the Robin Hood of his day.The handsome  Inamorato  ( the lover) went by many names. He wore no mask and had to be eloquent in order to perform speeches of love. The  Inamorata  was his female counterpart; Isabella Andreini was the most famous. Her servant, usually called  Columbina, was the beloved of Harlequin. Witty, bright, and given to intrigue, she developed into such characters as Harlequine and Pierrette.La Ruffiana  was an old woman, either the mother or a village gossip who thwarted the lovers.Cantarina  and  Ballerina  often took part in the comedy, but for the most part, their job was to sing, dance, or play music. There were many other minor characters, some of which were associated with a particular region of Italy, such as  Peppe Nappa  (Sicily),  Gianduia  (Turin),  Stenterello  (Tuscany),  Rugantino  (Rome), and  Meneghino  (Milan). Costumes The audience was able to pick up on the type of person actors were representing through each characters dress. For elaboration, loose-fitting garments alternated with very tight, and jarring color contrasts opposed monochrome outfits. Except for the inamorato, males would identify themselves with character-specific costumes and half-masks. The  zanni  (precursor to clown), such Arlecchino, for example, would be immediately recognizable because of his black mask and patchwork costume. While the inamorato and the female characters wore neither masks nor costumes unique to that personage, certain information could still be derived from their clothing. Audiences knew what members of the various social classes typically wore, and also expected certain colors to represent certain emotional states. Masks All the fixed character types, the figures of fun or satire, wore colored leather masks. Their opposites, typically pairs of young lovers around whom the stories revolved, had no need for such devices. In modern Italian  handcrafted theater, masks  are still created in the ancient tradition of  carnacialesca. Music The inclusion of music and dance into  commedia  performance required that all actors have these skills. Frequently at the end of a piece, even the audience joined in on the merrymaking.

ap dbq Essay example

ap dbq Essay example ap dbq Essay example AP Psychology Summer Assignment The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks Morgan Wailes P-5 Cravens 08/19/2013 The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat The lesson learned in this specific case could be one of many things. The patient, Dr. P, teaches us that not everything has to be fixed, or can be fixed. He can go about his life normally as long as he sings or hums a song for the task at hand. For example, the patient’s wife explained that he has songs for everything, dressing, eating, and bathing. If he does not, he will not understand the task. He may not be able to identify objects or people with his eyes or mind but he can identify with sound, like a voice or song. Dr. P doesn’t really need to have a surgery or take medication because his â€Å"medicine† is music. Dr. P’s strange inability not judge his wife’s head as a head, but as a hat or a glove as a glove is as a result of a massive tumor or a degenerative process in the visual parts of his brain. One of the most unique aspect of Dr. P’s case is the progression of his art, it started off â€Å" naturalistic and realistic† th en started becoming â€Å" less vivid, less concrete† to cubist styled (i.e. Pablo Picasso), and then even just lines and abstract (i.e. Jackson Pollack). In a way, it was like we could see into the patient’s mind as his condition degenerated. The Lost Mariner We learn from Jimmie that drinking, especially heavy drinking, really affects our bodies, especially later in our lives. His renegade amnesia was caused by Korsakov’s Syndrome which resulted from the patient’s heavy drinking after he left the navy. I found that his inability to recall the time he spent after 1945 very interesting, and that he could remember everything from his height of glory in the navy vividly, yet had difficulty remembering the doctor’s face after a few minutes of not seeing him. Also, what was interesting and unique is that he could vaguely remember the doctor by key facial features (e.g. his beard) but couldn’t place when he saw him or what his name was. The Disembodied Lady The author opens this chapter with a quote by Wittgenstein, â€Å"[the] aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. (One is unable to notice something because it is always before one’s eyes.) The real foundations of his enquiry do not strike a man at all.† I believe this is the lesson we learn from this case. We aren’t able to notice something so simple before us, because we’ve accepted it and taken it for granted in our everyday lives. In Christina’s case, she lost her sense of body, the sense of herself in it. She was unable to control her limbs, her muscles, and her senses unless she used her eyes to focus on them. She suffered from severe sensory neuronopathies, said to be caused (in other cases) by taking enormous quantities of Vitamin B6 or pyridoxine. What I found unique and interesting about her case is that she dreamed of it before the symptoms showed. It is interesting o see tha t her mind warned her of what was going to happen, before it happened. The Man Who

A Good Man Must Know One Song by Heart Movie Review

A Good Man Must Know One Song by Heart - Movie Review Example A gripping story set in 1929 about a family of three. The father leaves home for New York to work there along with his friends as members of a band. The band becomes popular at that area, and pay becomes even better. Way back home, the ten-year old son and his mother alternates time among playing piano, strolling around the vicinity, and cooking food. The situation forces the son to look for his father bringing only with him a song that his father taught him years ago.The film's narration played as a flashback starting out promisingly in what is supposed to be an abandoned area in New York, where the son is shown to be cuddling his father while humming a tune. The father was looking aimlessly at nowhere in his tattered suits, while the son looked simple in his pants and jacket. The transition to the next scene was poignant and dramatic because the succeeding scene was beautifully juxtaposed with the previous scene. In the second scene, the father was seen cuddling his son while singi ng the song "While My Baby Lulls in a Hammock." The mother entered the scene, and then all at once, the audience was introduced to all the principal characters of the film. But just when you are expecting things to get even better, as the film tried to give the audience an idea of the setting and the zeitgeist of the story, the film slowed down and devoted too much time to the protagonists' uneventful music sessions. There, the film accommodated half of the total number of songs-there were ten-that were supposed to be played in the entire film. While the film's first half tried your patience, it picked up speed as the focus shifted to where it should be: New York and the specter of the Great Depression. There were two significant events between the period of 1925 and 1935 that were woven into or depicted in the film: 1) The movie's moral crackdown in 1934-Due to the newly-enforced rigorous production code courtesy of Will Hays, the film's dialogues, song lyrics, and the presentation of the visuals were seemingly sanitized. Rumor has it that several lines-including "Mother, do you think is it acceptable for Father if I were to fall in love with someone, but not marry her"-were intentionally omitted during the post-production to suit the taste of the members of the so-called Legion of Decency. As a result of this, the film in its entirety was devoid of any shocking but commercially appealing dialogue and situations. Instead, unnecessary optimism pervaded all throughout in its less than 90-minute run. Such existential optimism was manifested in script like "Do not worry son. Your father will soon find his way to us." 2) The ushering of the Great Depression in 1929-discussions among bankers visiting the club where the father plays centered on the issue of Wall Street's fall. Although, the site of Wall Street was never included in any of the scenes, the actors really talked about blue chips like Standard Oil and Westinghouse, and the plummeting values of the shares of White Sewing Machine with ease that one could have an impression that bankers who were forced to resign from financial institutions were acquired as actors. Commentaries One critic said that there was a visible effort on the part of the filmmakers to show that this film had set the bar high in terms of visuals, sounds, and historical accuracy. Although the visuals, through camerawork, hardly moved to prevent the scratches made by camera from being recorded, the actors' faces registered clearly and properly projected to create an impression of a depressing scenario. The sounds consisted of a few songs of longing and melancholia and crisp and concise audible (and inaudible) dialogue. The claim to historical accurac