For this evaluation, I will be evaluating the group of Nick S, James M, Lachie C, Will H, and Charlie W.

I think this group did very well at making their performance clear and engaging for the audience. They made very big and obvious movements (i.e. Brighella stirring potion made it clear it was a cauldron) and they used loud clear voices. One way I felt I was really engaged with the piece was that they were able to say things out loud that clearly explain what they are doing/what is happening (i.e. Pantalone explaining how love potion works and saying “do not drink the love potion” clearly makes it easy to follow, also Colombina and Arlecchino stating out loud who they love and who they hate makes helps a lot to understand the story)

Although there was no overarching sense of time running out in this piece I could definitely feel a sense of urgency from characters like Pantalone instead. At the part where Il Capitano and Pantalone are set to have a duel there is a sense of time running out as they have set a time and Pantalone is too old to fight so they have to find a solution under pressure.

This group was able to use space effectively in scenes where characters were spying on one another and they would place themselves further away from the middle of the stage as if they were looking into the scene (i.e. Pantalone, Brighella and Arlecchino spying on Colombina and Il Capitano). I think this use of space reflected Commedia’s nature of sneakiness and hidden plans.

I believe this group did very well at using physicality and vocal expressions to represent their given characters. Arlecchino was very energetic and on his feet, Pantalone was hunched over and had a very nasally, shrewd voice, Colombina made good use of her fan and had a high pitched voice, Brighella had a gorilla-like voice and was ready to make deals with Pantalone, and Il Capitano was very upright and arrogant in speech. Physicality was used very well in the potion making scenes where Brighella and Pantalone’s hightened physicality made it very engaging and entertaining in each movement such as stirring, pulling out hair, spitting, retrieving earwax, etc.

This group also did very well at using conventions of Commedia dell’Arte in their piece. They had a funny Burle between Arlecchino and Pantalone where Pantalone said “Repeat after me: Do not drink the potion” and he repeated it and then Pantalone said it again and Arlecchino says “Drink the potion”. Another good Burle was between Brighella and Pantalone where Brighella asks for spit and Pantalone doesn’t have any and Brighella calls him old, and Brighella asks for hair and Pantalone doesn’t have any and Brighella calls him old, and Brighella asks for earwax and Pantalone gives him lots and Brighella says “disgustingly perfect”. They had a good Lazzi of Arlecchino getting tired while delivering the potion and drinking the love potion and falling in love with Colombina. This group also used lots of asides to convey ideas directly to the audience (i.e. Colombina saying in an aside “Maybe I can get some money from him” without Arlecchino knowing, Pantalone asking if Arlecchino has given her the love potion in an aside to let the audience know his thoughts)

Another thing I thought this group did well was the choice of music and how it was used in congruence with what was happening in the scene (i.e. “Pink Pather Theme” playing during Brighella’s suspiscious potion making)

We were set to be assessed on Thursday and Friday but since one of our group members, Leith, could not make it on those days it was decided that we would perform on Wednesday and only Leith would be assessed and the others would perform on Thursday with James McCredie substituting as Pantalone and we would all be assessed then

On Monday, we were taken to choose our costumes and we found what would work best for our characters.

On Tuesday we did not have a class to prepare, but we met up after school and rehearsed our piece in the green room with our costumes. We did not add many new parts to our piece, but instead just ran through it and tried to make it fit into the 8-12 minute time frame, since it was a little over. We also had to explain all the new scenes to Oscar, who wasn’t there last time we met up.

Here is a full list of all the scenes in order as well as transitions, characters on and extra details:

Prologue

Scene 1 – Split Concetti

1. Pantalone speaking first one side
2. Arlecchino walks in on Pantalone, eating cake
3. Isabella speaks second on other side
4. Colombina walks into Isabella, doing her hair

(everyone exits, except Arlecchino, Tartaglia and Brighella enter)

Scene 2 – Buying a Wedding Dress

1. Brighella gets angry at Arlecchino and Tartaglia
2. Pantalone walks in (upstage left), Brighella switches mood to him
3. Isabella and Colombina walks(upstage right), Brighella orders zanni to get dresses
4. Zanni come in with 3 dresses, Isabella chooses most expensive one (Pantalone and Brighella bargain)

(everyone except Pantalone exits)

Scene 3 – Dottore’s Concetti

1. Pantalone concetti about money
2. Mouse Zanni enters, trying to inform Pantalone of his master, but is dismissed
3. Il Dottore enters, discusses Pantalone’s debt
4. Pantalone tries to explain, but is shut down and sneaks off (exits)
5. Il Dottore gives Concetti on Pantalone’s shrewdness
6. Isabella enters, Dottore tries to convince her but is shut down
7. Isabella exits
8. Dottore tells Mouse Zanni to retrieve love potion from the Witch

(everyone exits, Bird Zanni sets the scene)

Scene 4 – The Witch

1. The Witch enters
2. Mouse Zanni knocks on door, Bird Zanni opens with a large movement
3. Mouse Zanni asks for Love Potion
4. The Witch orders Bird Zanni to get ingredients, comes back with props
5. The Witch makes the potion, explains how it works and gives it to Mouse Zanni
6. Mouse Zanni exits

(everyone exits, taking props)

Scene 5 – Brighella and Arlecchino Lazzi

1. Arlecchino enters
2. Brighella enters, gets angry with Arlecchino
3. Brighella tries to hit Arlecchino, misses
4. Arlecchino picks up the wine, does roll, spills wine on Brighella
5. Il Dottore and Isabella enters, Brighella tries to punch Arlecchino, instead punches Dottore
6. Brighella and Arlecchino exit

(Isabella and Dottore stay on, seated)

Scene 6 – Love Potion/Wedding Scene

1. Mouse Zanni enters, gives Dottore love potion
2. Il Capitano enters, Dottore gives him love potion
3. Isabella falls in love with Capitano
4. Pantalone enters, confused
5. Isabella calls to get married, Tartaglia enters
6. Halfway through ceremony, Brighella enters, covered in wine
7. Capitano runs away
8. Isabella follows Capitano

Epilogue

Here is the prologue and the epilogue for our piece written by Tim Barrett and Caleb Gallant respectively. For our prologue and epilogue we decided we would say all the lines together and whenever a character was mentioned we would all look at them and they could step forwards.

Prologue:

(Dottore, Pantalone, Isabella, Tartaglia, Capitano, and the Witch)

A wedding planned

A strife at hand

Pantalone is set to marry

Yet still Dottore is ever wary.

To Dottore’s anger, Pantalone’s money is depleted

This leads to Dottore feeling inordinately cheated.

When he realises

A sly trick he conspires

With the help of his counterpart

He gains a potion of the heart

Il Capitano looks for a chance

Isabella is under a trance.

Epilogue:

(Dottore, Pantalone, Isabella, Tartaglia, Capitano, and Brighella)

Brighella makes a frightening scare

Capitano runs without self care.

Isabella thinks he was the one

But that was all love potion fun

Il Dottore accepts his win

Pantalone lowers his chin

(Tartaglia) T-t-the end!

Today, we all met up as a group for the second time (the first time I was away sick from school). We managed to create bases for all the scenes in the performance to work with later on, and we had effectively finished our first draft of the entire performance. We had also made good progress with the prologue and epilogue, which were written by Tim and Caleb respectively

New Scenes

Scene 3 – Dottore’s Concetti (cont.)

We revised our final devised scene from last class and added some extra details and transitions. We added an extra exchange between the two masters where Pantalone tries to say Isabella is taking his money, an accusation Dottore scoffs at, as he is a proud father. We also intergrated the Mouse Zanni who is Dottore’s personal servant and messanger. He comes in and out of the scene to inform characters of others’ entrances, although he is usually to quiet and scared to be heard. Also, after Isabella has left the scene, Dottore decides he will have to go to the witch to get a love potion to perhaps use to ruin the wedding and so he sends the mouse zanni to go to the witch and receive a Potion of Love

Scene 4 – The Witch

The next scene would be the interaction between the mouse zanni and the witch. We started by creating a platform made from drama blocks for the witch to use and the witch and her assistant, the bird zanni, would set the scene of a potion shop deep into the woods. We decided on some elements of the scene such as the Bird Zanni scaring the mouse zanni when he enters by opening the door in a big movement and by circling with the typical stretched out, Bird Zanni movement. The witch would then make the love potion by using some ingredients fetched by the Bird Zanni and explain to the mouse zanni (and the audience) how the love potion works.

Scene 5 – Brighella and Arlecchino Lazzi

We thought it would be good to fit in a scene which would bring us back to the idea of the wedding and could also be used for a extended lazzi and Burleigh. When Brighella asks Arlecchino to “give him a hand” and “take a seat”, he does so literally, and when Brighella realises the cake is missing again he gets angry and tries to hit Arlecchino. Arlecchino dogdes and picks up the wine and does a forward roll without spilling any, but then spills it onto Brighella. Brighella gets livid and throws a punch at Arlecchino, but just as he does Il Dottore and Isabella walk in, Arlecchino dodges the punch and a wine-soaked Brighella mistakenly strikes Dottore. Arlecchino and Brighella then rush off claiming they have to be somewhere else.

Scene 6 – Capitano & Isabella Love Potion/Wedding Scene

Mouse Zanni enters into the scene from where it just left off, and gives Dottore the love potion. The Mouse Zanni explains it and Dottore asks who to use it on and suddenly, Il Capitano bursts through into the scene. Dottore takes the opportunity and mixes the potion into wine, handing the mixture to Capitano. Capitano asks about the wedding and when he hears of the bride he says the name out loud: “Isabella!”. Isabella’s head turns and she instantly falls in love. Capitano is surprised but very content with the turn of events.

Isabella says she wants to get married to Capitano and they have everything ready, so she calls out Tartaglia, who comes on nervously. Pantalone enters after sneaking around and asks angrily about whats happening, but Isabella pushes him away and calls him ugly and old. As Tartaglia speaks the words to marry them, Brighella comes on stage, still soaked with wine, and Capitano sees him and mistakes him for the devil (as the wine is red) and rushes off, very frightened, to which Isabella follows. The cast then comes together and says the epilogue as a chorus.

Today in class we got to work on how we would begin our piece. We thought about what would be necessary and we decided that we would need to establish what is going on and the context of our story. We ended up choosing to have a split Concetti (monologue) between Pantalone, the groom, and Isabella, the bride.

Scene 1 – Split Concetti

We started to improvise to see what would work well. We worked with different ideas and it was clear that Leith, as Pantalone, would have a Concetti where he would speak happily about his future wife and how much she loves himself, but also how much the wedding costs. In contrast, Finn, as Isabella, would daydream about all the money she would get and how amazingly expensive the wedding will be.

The improvisation showed us that it would be good to fit in some supporting characters like Arlecchino, played by Caleb, who could be comedic and serve Pantalone, and Colombina, played by Tim, who could be styling Isabella and asking her about the wedding.

Scene 2 – Buying a Wedding Dress

We already had an idea into how a scene like this may be. Brighella would come in and get angry at the zanni for not doing their jobs just as Pantalone enters, to which he would instantly become serving towards him. When we improvised we found good ways to extend and advance this scene. We thought it would be comedic if Tartaglia, the stutterer, played by Oscar, could be the priest who has yet to memorise his speech, and Arlecchino, played by Caleb, is in charge of the wedding cake, which he would be eating during the first scene. We discovered that the idea of showing off wedding dresses would be perfect as the next action as we can show Pantalone’s bargaining against Brighella’s greediness and Isabella’s expensive taste.

Scene 3 – Dottore’s Concetti

We knew that next we would have to introduce Il Dottore, the disapproving father. We had to find a way to establish why he is angry. Despite some back and forths as to what a dowry is, we came to the conclusion that Pantalone is bribing Dottore for Isabella’s hand but he is slowly running out of money due to his circumstances and would sneak off. This would then lead into Dottore ranting about Pantalone and how he wants to now foil the wedding. We also thought that if Isabella could come in after that, Dottore could try to ask her if “she really wants to go through with the wedding” to which she bluntly replies that she is because of Pantalone’s riches.

In class, we turned our brainstorming into thinking over how our story should play out. We found it would be good to use the witch as a way to create conflict in the story. We discussed how a curse or potion would fit in and we eventually landed on the idea of a love potion. If the love potion was used by Dottore to create a relationship between Isabella and someone other than Pantalone, there would be conflict.

Together we made a google doc so that we could divide roles between the group members such as the Costume Designer, Script writer, Music Gatherer, Prologue and Epilogue writers.

Research

Here is a website with a list of potential Lazzis between characters which could be used for inspiration:

In the piece I play as Brighella and the Witch, here are some profiles of each and research of each:

Brighella

• 

• 

• First order zanni- In charge of other zanni, but very attendant to the masters, Pantalone and Il Dottore
• Associated with a Gorilla or a Rat (Strong and intimidating towards zanni, sneaky and shrewd with masters)
• Voice is very deep and angry at zanni, but nasally and hopeful with masters
• Greedy, tries to get more credit and money from masters
• Always worried and panicked
• Often portrayed as a bartender, shop manager, etc. (someone who serves masters while still holding authority)
• The Wedding Planner in our piece – must get wedding together with incompetent zanni while under heavy time constraints

Stature and Movement

Brighella will usually keep his weight on a bent leg. Brighella has his back curved at the lumbar region and his chest high. He is always on his toes and rat-like. He walks also like a rat and keeps on his toes, ready to attend to masters and please them. Towards other zanni, he may show himself in a bigger stance to intimidate the other servants.

Examples

Here is a video explaining some key elements of Brighella:

Basil Fawlty is an excellent example of a Brighella type character. He is always trying to please the patrons of his hotel who represent the masters while showing authority over his worker, Manuel, who is similar to Arlecchino, a zanni, in his energetic character and Lazzi.

The Witch

• 

• 

• Newer addition to Commedia dell’Arte
• Doesn’t have a fixed status, an outsider to the rest of the Commedia troupe
• Lives deep out in the woods
• Very creepy and eccentric, large nasal voice and laugh with lots of unnatural and big movements
• Provides potions, curses, sees the future- allows for magical plot pieces
• Provides the love potion for Dottore in our piece
• Has bird zanni as an assistant

Example

Here is a short video giving some info into La Strega or The Witch and her movements

In class we all split into our groups with big pieces of paper and markers so that we could start brainstorming our ideas for scenarios and plot. We looked into ways we could have Masters in conflict to create a scene. We found that the conflict being over a lady would work well, and Finn gave the idea that we could have a wedding between a master and a lady that goes wrong, we built off of this idea from there.

Between all of us, we decided who is interested in which roles and with these roles in mind we tried to understand where they may be able to fit into the story.

We came up with some roles for each character which we thought would work well or would be comedic (Tartaglia as the priest, Pantalone marrying Isabella)

Characters and Roles

Isabella ~ Finn

• Bride/Love interest of Pantalone
• Loves the idea of marriage, but not of Pantalone
• Always chooses the expensive, pretty option
• Love potion causes her to love Il Capitano

Pantalone ~ Leith

• Groom of Isabella
• Loves Isabella and, although cautiously, spends many funds on her
• Constantly trying to bargain
• Throws himself into bad situations to impress Isabella, such as dueling Il Capitano

Il Dottore ~ Tim

• Father of Isabella
• Contested with Pantalone, but lets the wedding carry on because of being convinced by Pantalone’s money
• When Pantalone’s payments start to slow he dislikes the idea of the wedding
• Tries to ruin wedding in many ways

Il Capitano ~ Caleb

• Becomes Isabella’s love interest after she drinks a love potion
• Very happy with change of events and tries to take Pantalone’s place
• Wearily accepts duel with Pantalone
• Scared away from wedding (?)

Brighella ~ Sam

• Wedding planner
• Stressed by time until wedding and constantly blames zanni
• Very polite and kind to masters unlike zanni
• Always trying to upsell and get extra money

Tartaglia ~ Oscar

• Priest/Minister of Wedding
• Always stuttering, can’t say speech correctly
• Scared of Brighella

Arlecchino ~ Caleb

• Always managing to mess up wedding
• Lots of lazzi’s
• In charge of wedding cake (which he keeps eating)
• Smarter than he seems

Columbina ~ Tim

• Isabella’s servant/maid of honour
• Close to Isabella and gives her advice (which is sometimes more for her sake than Isabella’s)
• Influenced by Arlecchino
• Always on Isabella’s side

The Witch ~ Sam

• Provides curses/potions (Love Potion) to Il Dottore (for Isabella)
• Lives deep in the woods
• Very over the top and scary
• Never questions the request, but everything comes at a cost

Mouse Zanni ~ Oscar

• Il Dottore’s personal zanni/messanger
• Is always beside/pulled along by Il Dottore, but always forgets what is said
• Is told to retrieve Love potion from witch
• Is constantly scared and nervous

Commedia dell’arte is the main theme of this topic. It is a type of improvised comedy that was popular in the 15th-16th century. Commedia is done in mask and in reporto style. These masks are given for each different character and part of there character is shown through the features of the mask. In Commedia, there are a set of stock type characters each with different personalitys, stances, goals, and status.

Our group consists of

• Sam McCredie
• Caleb Gallant
• Finn Beachly
• Tim Barrett
• Leith Honor
• Oscar Clarkson

Status

A Very important part of Commedia dell’arte is the status of each characters. This is important as a lot of Commedia’s comedy comes out through conflictions between characters of different statuses.

For example, Brighella is a servant (zanni) to one of the masters (Pantalone or Il Dottore) but is in charge of the other zanni. Brighella is very rat or gorilla-like and can be seen as aggressive and menacing to other zanni but very attentive and willing towards the masters. This can create humour through Brighella trying to be polite to a master while being angry at a zanni for doing something wrong.

Lazzi

Lazzi are also a very common way of humour in Commedia dell’arte. Lazzi is usually done by a zanni, where the character performs an action which is seen as obviously comedic, similar to slapstick, and is commonly formed from some kind of accident. For example Brighella tries to hit Arlecchino, but he dodges and Brighella falls into the wedding cake.