Glossery of Terms – Commedia Dell’ Arte

There was not anything like as much improvisation in a traditional commedia dell’arte performance as the modern predilection for impro might lead us to suppose. In commedia dell’arte all’ improvviso nearly all the elements used were ‘stock’ and simply applied as needed to different scenarios. At its worst, this must have resulted in the deadliest of deadly theatre, the equivalent of painting by numbers. Here is a short glossary of some of the indici (indications) that they might have used to mark up a scenario for performance, in the same way that ‘allegro’, ‘pizzicato’, etc. are written in a musical score.

ad libitum ‘To the desired extent’ – i.e. in performance to carry on in a particular mode for as long as is judged desirable rather than stopping at a predetermined point; not the same thing as to ‘adlib’, i.e. to make impromptu remarks during an otherwise fixed sequence.

a parte ‘Aside’, but the Italian is better – literally the performer needs to be apart from the other Masks in order to make a direct comment to the audience. The convention of holding the back of the hand across the face cannot be used since the hand ‘kills’ the Mask if it comes that close. Therefore it is necessary to establish a separation – most often involving moving to one of the down stage corners.

a soggetto Sticking to the subject, accepting a basic premise and bombarding it from every angle.

bravura Usually used in the sense of ‘bravura technique’ – a difficult skill accomplished with great panache.

bravure Exaggerated rhetorical phrases as delivered by Il Capitano.

urle Pranks or practical jokes at the expense of another Mask. From burlare, ‘to ridicule’ or ‘make fun of’, the derivation of ‘burlesque’. Pedrolino’s favourite pasttime.

capocomico The head actor, akin to the English ‘actor/manager’.

capriccio A sudden start as made by a goat. Launching without warning into a poetical or fantastical outburst. A caprice employed by Pantalone in particular.

cascate Literally ‘floods’ – of obscene jokes or lazzi, usually scatological. Introduced when ‘actors feel particularly sure of themselves or their audience’.7

chiusette Prearranged exit lines or ‘tags’ at the end of uscite, often a rhyming couplet (especially from the Lovers), sometimes even a quatrain.

choregos See corago.

concertare il soggetto The corago’s explanation to the company, not necessarily on stage, of the relationships between the Masks, the plan for exits, entrances, use of ‘houses’, doti, opportunities for generici, etc., in the scenario to be performed.

concetti Fanciful notions and far-fetched comparisons, beloved of the Lovers, Il Capitano and Il Dottore.

corago The nearest commedia dell’arte comes to having a director, often the capocomico, sometimes also known as il guido maestro.

doni The ‘given’ or traditional material for a Mask as kept in an actor’s notebook.

doti The set pieces of a Commedia troupe, consisting of soliloquies, narratives, dissertations and studied passages of rhetoric. Some existed in manuscript form. Others were simply known by heart, and others were composed for some special occasion. Doti should be used at decisive points in the action, giving fixed points at which to aim and away from which to improvise afterwards. As in Japanese Kabuki, an audience may burst into applause when one is successfully carried off – in contrast to generici.

effeto meraviglioso The introduction of the marvellous via the use of a special effect, usually late in a scenario – typified in England by the transformation scene at the end of a pantomime.

generici Commonplaces – sententious maxims, descriptions, outpourings of emotion, diatribes, declamations of passion, love-laments, ravings, reproaches, declamatory outbursts, to be employed ad libitum in any appropriate situation. Other company members need to sense when they can be expected, lead up to and away from them without interrupting the flow. The audience’s sense of thestyle of performance must be continuous, as opposed to caprice or doti.

imbroglio The complications which follow on after the exposition of a plot. The tangle that ensues when the Masks try to cheat each other.

inganni Deceptions which move the plot along.

ingarbuglia What it sounds like – mumbling and bumbling, often between Pantalone and Il Dottore, which results in a muddling of the situation.

lazzi There are two initial definitions of this contentious word: material that is part of a performer’s repertorio that can be called upon at short notice whilst on stage to enliven the action, or a piece of business that relates to character, rather than the plot. These definitions work if the model of commedia dell’arte you use is that of commedia improvviso – Masks improvising their way through a predetermined story line. However, if your model for performance is that of rehearsed and ‘set’ action and dialogue, the word lazzi takes on a more general significance: another possible derivation of this disputed word is ‘azi’, short for ‘azione’, meaning simply ‘actions’, i.e. all comic business as opposed to dialogue. For present purposes we stay with the first two definitions. A lazzi is typically used when a Mask is alone on stage to help create character rapport with the audience, or else to rescue a scene that has gone off the rails and is in need of the audience’s attention being regained and refocused. It is a piece of skill or bravura, done as a loop that returns precisely to the point of departure.

In working up a piece for performance it is best simply to mark places in the scenario where lazzi may possibly occur in performance. To cast in stone where various Masks will perform their lazzi runs counter to the flexibility in performance that commedia dell’arte thrives on. Commedia dell’arte may be known for its lazzi, but it must never be forgotten that all worthwhile scenarios and canovacci have a dramatic story at their core, as with all conventional plays, and that is the reason audiences stay to watch. hey have (hopefully, if not you may as well go home . . .) developed an emotional bond with the Masks and want to know what will happen to them in the end. Lazzi may be one way of providing entertainment during this journey, but they are certainly not the whole trip. A lazzi is an embellishment, not the story itself, but a commedia dell’arte story without lazzi would be a poor Commedia indeed.

Good lazzi come from discoveries made in training which are then developed as separate entities before being reintroduced in otherircumstances. Mel Gordon proposes the following categories: acrobatic and mimic, comic violence and sadistic behaviour, food, illogical, stage property based, sexual or scatalogical, social-class or rebellion, stage/life duality, stupidity or inappropriate behaviour, transformation, trickery, wordplay.

meccanismi Whilst a lazzi occurs on the spur of a moment and generally concerns one or two Masks, a meccanismo is a prerehearsed and preplanned routine for several Masks. Meccanismi may be transferable between one show and another, if the storylines have a degree of similarity, but they are generally focused on providing a showcase for the company’s talents, whilst at the same time maintaining dramatic tension. They are, at worst, a chance for the company to use all available skills to create coups de théâtre.

pazzia A speciality turn of impassioned madness, insanity or folly, usually associated with Isabella – but fare piazze means to act like a fool, meaning that the Lovers and Pantalone can indulge themselves as well.

repertorio The repertoire of a company or of an actor within that company, a catalogue of what is available.

sotto voce In an undertone.

sprezzatura ‘The urge to continually outdo [one’s] fellows in accomplishing difficult things gracefully.’9 And also with nonchalance, and a certain disdain. Molière’s Scapin is all sprezzatura.

squarci The opposite of sotto voce – the ‘tearing apart’ of a scene at full volume.

uscite A prearranged exit sequence, usually involving more than one Mask.

zibaldone The commonplace book where the generici of a Mask were written down. In English a commonplace book was originally a ‘collection of passages or quotations appropriate to several cases, arranged under general headings, either alphabetically or some other classification’. [NED] Only later did the word come to mean ‘hackneyed, platitude or truism’.