Little Red Riding Hood: Commedia Dell'Arte

Commedia Dell’Arte is a form of traveling street theatre that originated from Italy in the 16^th century. Translating as “comedy of skills”, companies of professional actors performed outdoors in public spaces demonstrating an array of physical skills, music, and buffoonery. Companies would perform improvised scenarios that focused on the importance of performance opposed to the actual subject matter.

The actors worked from a very basic outline, structuring only the mechanical arrangement of the play such as; entrances, exits and character relationships, leaving the improvisation of the dialogue, jokes and physical comedy. However actors had a few Commedia foundations that could contribute the success of this. ‘Lazzi’ are essentially "gags" or stock jokes which would be added into a play or performance in order to ensure the comic action keeps pace. ‘Lazzi’ have somewhat migrated into the world of Pantomime and are still used today, the classic “Oh yes it is” & “He’s behind you” are prime examples of this.

Within the development of the Commedia Dell’Arte, there grew certain traditions such as “stock characters.” Commedia’s use of its ‘stock characters’ provided audience members with a sense of familiarity. Members of the company would portray these characters by wearing masks and costumes that defined the character’s personality. Commedia has since influenced these “stock characters” into other theatre such as Pantomime. ‘The Dame’ and ‘The Love Interest’ that are in most (if not all) Pantomimes originate from that of Commedia Dell’Arte.

“Commedia dell’arte characters can be divided into three groups:

- Il Vecchi (the old men)

- Il Zanni (the “zany” servants),

- Gli innamorati (the lovers).

Il Vecchi try to keep gli innamorati apart, while il zanni help one side or the other.” (Human Race Theatre, “Comedy of Skills”, 2005)

Significant stock characters of Commedia Dell’Arte:

Pantalone – Somewhat the King of the stock characters. Pantalone is associated with money, power and intelligence. Pictured in a dark mask that looks down on everything, the hunch-backed old man in dark colours of black, grey and red is a powerful icon of Commedia Dell’Arte.

Zanni – At the bottom of the pecking order, he is similar to that of a peasant. Coming from a rural background, the characters personality is extremely curious and enthusiastic to that of city life. This character was drawn from the lower classes of that time so you will usually see him in white baggy clothing. In a way, Kasheem’s character is The Zanni of our Pantomime. She is considered the most “stupid” of the three pigs and is often looked down on. Brighella & Harlequino are also linked to the three little pigs. Each pig possess a similar trait to that of the three servants in Commedia.

Laurence has Brighella’s sense of leadership and logic. Llewelyn however has traits of both Brighella and Harlequino, he develops very cunning plans but there always seems to be a flaw in them, e.g. building a house of sticks.

Classic Character Commedia Structure: