First draft

Today I want to talk about Il Docttore in Commedia dell’Arte. Commedia dell’Arte means comedy of manners. And it was a type of professional theater originated from Italy, 16th century. It was a form of theater that focuses on satire of social manners. 

Though most of the sources and researches say that Commedia dell’Arte was born around 1500s in Italy, nobody really knows its true dates and origin. Even though there is no way to find its origin, there are still a lot of similarities between Commedia dell’Arte and the early theatre in Roman Empire. For example, the Atellan Farces, which was short scenes of comedy with types of characters wearing masks. Different from other theaters in that time, Commedia dell’Arte did not only please upper class people but mostly served as a cultural entertainment for common people. So, Commedia dell’Arte performers usually build their temporary stage outdoor and start the performance with a rough outline of the plot. Many details and stingers are improvised. It really depends on the acting skill level of the performers. Since the performance of Commedia dell’Arte’s audience were mostly common people, they don’t really have extra money to spend on art or entertainment. How these well-trained performers feed themselves? In fact, these performance were usually sponsored by nobility, and the audience have the choice to donate some money as extra funds just like tips. A part of reason why Commedia dell’Arte was so successful was that the crew of performers did not have a settled base or theater to play, so the crew could travel around the whole country during carnival periods or festivals. The good commercial atmosphere and busy traders helped the culture grew as well. Furthermore, it seems to be the first theater allow women play female roles. The start of using female actresses was first blocked by several administrators but the trend cannot be stopped. By the end of 16th century, actresses were the standard of Commedia dell’Arte stages. 

The renaissance carried the Commedia dell’Arte traveled around the Europe as well. every country has its own evolution of this Italian theatre tradition. For example, the Punch and Judy show which was popular in 17th century England was one of the adaptations in other European countries of Commedia dell’Arte. And Punch was the adaptation of Pulcinella. 

The Subjects of a Commedia dell’Arte play are most sex, jealousy, love and old age. A classical Commedia dell’Arte play has the Innamorati (young lovers) who are loved and wish to be married; has elders(vecchi) are preventing this from happening which caused the Innamorati seek help from the servants(Zanni). Since the production is improvised, dialogue and actions could be easily changed into current political events, regional differences, old jokes and punchlines.

What made it stand out from other theater traditions? Stock characters, lazzi, incorporation of masks. The majority of characters can be classify into 3 types. Masters or the elders the adult class, usually play as the obstacle of the plot. Innamorati or the young lovers who don’t wear masks in the whole play, the major conflicts revolve around them. Usually the ultimate goal of the play will be getting them together. Zanni or the servant class, symbolizing the lower class people, usually play as the mover of the plot. No matter who they want to help, they either unintentionally help the Innamorati or block their master’s way. 

Lazzi, means jokes in Italian, usually the punchline of the play. It could be physical or oral. For example, actors could walk out of the stage into the audience and begin to ridicule what happening on the stage. Or, when a woman pretending she’s dead, a Zanni attempt to revive her by pulling her hair or twisting her limbs. 

Masks, the biggest classifier of characters( show the picture of masks). Every character has different mask. This one is a typical Il Capitano mask( describe the features). This one is a typical Pantalone mask(describe the feature). This one is an Arlecchino one. (Describe the features)And this one, is for our protagonist of today, Il Dottore (describe the features)

Why would I chose Il Dottore for my research? Think about the historical background. When the Commedia dell’Arte rose in Italy, that was Renaissance when new technologies, arts, sciences were inspired and encouraged. Il Dottore, a legal scholar of that time who is always ready to give solution for every occasion, was a very true reflection of some corrupted intellectual professionals who were the moth under such a golden age of reviving or creating old or new things. However, these kind of greedy selfish people are not only exist in the past. Today, in many colleges, some of the professors acquiesce student’s plagiarism and wait for bribery. However, how serious an social phenomenon is if it frequently appears in people’s daily theater production? Modern media rarely mentions plagiarism in college as a serious problem, which I think this issue deserves more attention. By learning and introducing a typical hypocritical figure in the western theater tradition, I think that will help a lot on understanding modern issues.

Il Dottore, one of the traditional stock character in Commedia dell’Arte, under the master or the adult classification, usually act as the counterpart of Pantalone. If say Pantalone has more actions, Il Dottore has more words. To know how Commedia dell’Arte shapes such a character,Let’s look at the Lazzi of Il Dottore first.

1.Eager to diagnose other people on the stage and obviously people are not sick

2.Ask assistance from others to help him perform an experimental surgery.

3.Try to make people taste strange potions.

4.Schemes to show his better knowledge than other people in presence sometimes especially the Pantalone.

Then lets look at Il Dottore’s appearance. A typical set of costume of Il Dottore: black academic dress, long jacket reaching his heels, black shoes with stockings and breeches and of course the mask. He is usually huge contrasting the Pantalone. He walks in small steps and his posture descend when he is thinking(out loud of course). Also, when he stands still, he leans back because of his huge belly. Because of he is a thinker and also a commander, he is always locating someone if he or she needs help. As a result, he looks around like a curious bird with sharp rotation of his head but he never lose his proud as a scholar. 

As a satire of reality, his traditional background was a old scholar who claims himself from bologna, where the oldest university in Italy locates. Also, he is so proud of his characteristic of “walking library” and “the only scientist in presence” so he cannot control himself from spouting out Latin vocabularies though most of the Latin words are misused. 

Here is a short example “moment of theater” of Il Dottore. (Performing)

As a learner, ib theater provides me with a great opportunity to study the Commedia dell’Arte and Il Dottore which helps me establish the sense of how influential a theater tradition could be. We have so many theater traditions or customs still remaining today from Commedia dell’Arte today, everywhere(show the ppt). Before doing this project, my class had a personal monologue practice during one of the class periods. I was asked to act as an old, ignorant house husband and I was going to show my ignorance to the audience. Where when I doing this performance, I thought of all the old man players I wanted to mimic had a fat belly, walking with stiff legs and small steps, always want to find someone and give them a lesson. That was not coincidence, I believe this is one of the many cultural legacies Commedia dell’Arte had left us after its vanishment in late 18th century. Thank you!