Commedia Dell' Arte Drama Essay

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During the development process of my group’s interpreted Commedia dell’ Arte piece, I was able to develop my skills as an actor through the manipulation of the elements of drama and increase my understanding of the Commedia dell’ Arte genre. I developed my character, Arlecchino, using the elements of status, voice, movement and audience engagement while contributing to the group aspect of the performance too. In time for the final performance I was able to create a convincing portrayal of the Commedia character, Arlecchino, and our group was able to perform very well. Arlecchino, or Harlequin, is the the most popular of the zanni, or comic servant characters from Italian Commedia dell’ Arte. Arlecchino’s character was first created in Italy as early as 1572 and is known for being a slow thinker, acrobatic and nimble. The primary aspect of Arlecchino is his physical agility, therefore he is often portrayed as cat or monkey-like. While generally depicted as stupid and gluttonous, Arlecchino always excited the audience with the addition of a cartwheel or somersault. He is typically cast as a servant and often has a love interest in Colombina. His costume is a multicoloured, diamond patterned jumpsuit and his mask is red and black with a wart on the forehead. The costume is similar to that of a jester, or harlequin, as the name Arlecchino suggests. Arlecchino is a zanni, or comic servant, and therefore I manipulated the element of status to more accurately portray his character. His relationship with other characters were mostly traditional, however we swapped his traditional lover from Colombina to Isabella. This way we were able to make the play more tense by having the conflicting statuses. Although Arlecchino is a servant, he acts very confidently, despite his stupidity. His height is constantly lower than those of higher status, such as his master Il Capitano

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