SOURCE: Forti-Lewis, Angelica. “Commedia dell'Arte.” In Fools and Jesters in Literature, Art, and History: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook, edited by Vicki K. Janik, pp. 146-54. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.

[In the following essay, Forti-Lewis provides an overview of the commedia dell'arte in the context of a larger study of fools and jesters in world literature.]

BACKGROUND

The commedia dell'arte was a unique development in the history of the theater in Western Europe. It flourished in Italy in the second half of the sixteenth century and throughout the seventeenth century. By the middle of the eighteenth century it was a less important factor in the theater, although its influence cannot be said to have died out.

Before commedia dell'arte became a firmly established genre, it had its history of development, like any other literary movement. It inherited a fragmentary legacy from many sources: from the commedia erudita (written comedy) of the Renaissance; from the clowns and variety artists who entertained at the festivities of the nobles, especially during the months of Carnival; from the jesters, the minstrels, jongleurs, and medicine shows that in the medieval days attracted crowds of spectators on popular streets; from the Latin comedies of Terence and Plautus; from Atellan farces in Rome; and even from Asiatic mimes. Although all these elements contributed to the formation of the commedia dell'arte, the influence of each was completely submerged and scarcely recognizable when the genre reached maturity in the hands of the notable player companies that started to form after 1550.

Commedia dell'arte means literally “comedy of the actors' guild” and was essentially improvised comedy that followed a plot outline, called a scenario, rather than a written dialogue. The players consisted of a dozen or so stock characters, several of whom wore masks, and two or more zanni (servants), whose lazzi (actions) ranged from comic intonations through acrobatics to obscene gestures. This assortment of roles remained almost constant throughout the life of the genre, and the type were invariably the same, although the names often changed from troupe to troupe.

In commedia dell'arte, by virtue of its partial derivation from Carnival, personality disappeared to be replaced by type: the personality of the actor is thus overtaken not by the author's scripted character, but by the persona of the mask to be played. In the commedia “masks” refers to character types and includes all individual masks or types. Thus the Zania (maidservant) or the Lovers are still masks, even though they do not wear actual masks. Grammelot, the language spoken by the masks, should also be seen in the same light, as a “babel of sounds which, nonetheless, manage to convey the sense of speech … an onomatopoeic flow of a speech, articulated without rhyme or reason, but capable of transmitting, with the aid of particular gestures, rhythms and sounds, an entire rounded speech” (Fo 36).

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

At the very center of the commedia dell'arte were the four original masks, arranged in twinlike pairs. These were the two vecchi, or older men, and the two zanni, or servants. One of the very first references to commedia dell'arte performances alludes to these four characters as the magnifichi, (the magnificent ones) and the zanni: Pantalones (Trousers, heads of households) and their serving men. A century and a half later Riccoboni speaks of “the four masked actors of our theater, the Venetian Pantalone, the Bolognese Dottore, and the two servants, now identified as Arlecchino the Bergamask and Scapino the Lombard” (Histoire 49-50). Later still the four figures were named by Goldoni as Pantalone, Dottore, Arlecchino, and Brighella (Nicoll, World 40).

The arrangement of these four characters in pairs is by no means fortuitous. While the immediate practical value is the opportunity for delivering the dialogue, another and deeper value is the twin-sided mirror such pairing provides each couple. But to think of these characters simply in pairs means that we shall impose upon an art of infinite modulations a dull and static design that does no justice to what these performances offered.

Of the two older characters, the Venetian Pantalone, invariably a miser (Pantalone de' Bisognosi), is essentially a peace-loving man. He is represented as an old merchant or a rich man retired from business, and if he is married, his wife is always young (much too young for him) and never misses an opportunity to deceive him. Just like Pantalone, the scholarly Dottore, with his advanced degree from the University of Bologna, is the victim of the pranks of his servants, daughter, and wife. In general, although both figures are gulled or tricked, the role of the Dottore provides a foil for Pantalone, one that can stand alongside his and yet become at times rather less serious, deviating more frequently from the former's gravity. The Dottore generally shows himself as more pompous and certainly more lascivious than his companion, and his adventures with serving maids and others are numerous.

The servants were originally numerous and not identifiable, so that many of the early companies' zanni would also use their last names, both for the actors as well as the masks, for example, Zan Padella, Zan Capocchio, and Zan Ganassa. If the names of Dottore and Pantalone for the magnifichi are self-explanatory, the term “zanni” for the servants is believed to originate either from the Latin Sannio (buffoon) or, more probably, as a derivation from Giovanni because in Lombardy g is pronounced and often written as a z, and this is particularly true of Giovanni and his diminutive Gian (Schwartz 34).

Zanni, from whose name the English word “zany” derives, always speaks in a loud, coarse voice because his comic type is based on that of the Venetian market porter who had to make himself heard offering his service above the clamor of the piazza and the rest of the traders if he was not to go hungry. A Bergamask peasant up from the country, seeking to earn a living portering and odd-jobbing in the town of northern Italy, Zanni is at the bottom of the pecking order. He is that regrettably eternal unfortunate, the dispossessed immigrant worker. With his baggy, white costume, originally made of flour sacks, Zanni suffers from the spasms of an ancestral hunger, which is his basic, everyday condition.

Starting with the earliest commedia dell'arte, the scenarios had at least two zanni, if not more: the first one foxy and astute, the second more naïve and silly (il furbo and il stupido). The evolution of the first zanni in Scapino and later on in Brighella and of the second zanni in Arlecchino is, although accurate, overly simple. There are many early plays of the sixteenth century where both Zanni and Arlecchino appear, side by side, although by the beginning of the following century in northern Italy the name Zanni is usually replaced by Scapino (scappare, to run away) or, later on, by Brighella and Arlecchino for, respectively, the first and second zanni. In southern Italy the second zanni, still wearing the same ample white zanni frock, takes the name of Pullicinello and later on Pulcinella (little chick), the ancestor of Punch and Judy.

There are important, consistent differences between the first and second zanni. The first one (Brighella) hesitates at nothing. He has no conscience, while his assistance is invaluable in executing such trivial commissions as the murder of a rival. If a love intrigue is to be planned and carried out, or some money is to be removed from the guarded possession of Pantalone or Dottore, Brighella is the inventive genius who will find a way. Women do not like him. If they suffer his insolent advances, it is because they fear him. His full name is Brighella (from briga, trouble, and cavillo, pretext) because of his ability to find a solution for every difficulty. With his green and white valet uniform, whenever he appears he is always the first zanni, the boss of all servants. All his relationships are exploitative, and he loves nobody, contrary to the second zanni (Arlecchino), who instead is always in love, albeit unfaithfully so.

The second zanni or Arlecchino, who became more and more famous in the French interpretation of the commedia dell'arte (la comédie italienne), was also born a citizen of Bergamo in the Val Brentana, like Brighella. It was said that folk from lower Bergamo were always buffoons (naïfs or gulls), while upper Bergamo produced the tricksters or wise fools. Each part of the town produced a clown for the commedia dell'arte: Arlecchino from lower Bergamo and Brighella from the upper town.

Arlecchino, whom both Riccoboni and Goldoni signalized as the more comical of the zanni, exists in a mental world where concepts of morality have no being, and yet, despite such absence of morality, he displays no viciousness. Scholars who favor the connection between Roman mimes and the actors of the commedia dell'arte assert that the patches of his costume have their origin in the tiger's skins worn by the ancient actors who played the part of the young Satyr. Yet another explanation is given in the form of a naïve and enchanting French story. On Mardi Gras every child, boy and girl, enjoyed being dressed up in specially fine clothes once every year. But Arlecchino's parents were very poor, and they could not afford an elegant costume for their child. Thus all his friends consulted together and agreed that each should give him a piece of the cloth from his own costume, although not one color matched another. The great day arrived and Arlecchino, to the delight of his friends, put on the multicolored suit his mother had made from all the beautiful pieces (Niklaus 22-23).

Theories for the origin of the name Arlecchino include extreme suggestions, from a magic water bird to his being called like one of Dante's Inferno's demons. But in Italian the suffix “ino” is a diminutive, and all of Arlecchino's younger brothers have a similar ending to their names, from Frittellino to Trivellino and Truffaldino. Similarly to Pulcinella (little chick), the most important connotation of Arlecchino's name seems to simply be little one or, possibly, little devil.

Arlecchino is always desperately (or happily) in love with the little servant girl, originally called Zania, later on Franceschina and Smeraldina, and finally, for the most part, Colombina. Who is this young maidservant, this Zania/Colombina, who is both the object of Pulcinella's and Arlecchino's love? While the female parts were played by boys in the regular written dramas and in early-sixteenth-century commedia dell'arte, we soon have a change in the improvised comedy with the first and much-appreciated appearance of women on the stage. The two most important female roles, to duplicate the original two pairs of magnifichi and zanni, are the innamorata or amorosa (the lover) and her pretty servant girl, the servetta birichina, who in France became soubrette, the title still used by the young lead dancer/singer of contemporary vaudeville shows.

The early commedia dell'arte maidservant was older, lustier, and more buxom than the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Colombina, who, as well as being younger and more graceful and engaging, was always an accomplished dancer and singer. In borrowing from the commedia erudita, which had a tradition of the maid appearing in place of the mistress, the servetta had a great deal to do. But once the lovers appeared on stage, she was reduced to the role of a confidante and a message carrier. It seemed too small a part to be afforded by the traveling commedia dell'arte's troupes, who would need their second actress to carry an equal share. A new part was thus worked out in which the servetta became a counterpart of zanni in function, a zania, while maintaining her role as a reflection of her mistress in manner and mood.

Traditional costumes for the women players never developed. When the seventeenth-century Colombina appears in France as Arlecchina or Pierrette, the costume she wears is simply a feminine version of the costume of Arlecchino, and no mask is worn. Colombina in her role of faithful maid and faithless lover is often led by the necessity of her many intrigues to assume disguises, nearly always designed to hide the fact that she is a woman. When she appears as a doctor, a poor scholar, or a lawyer, she wears the recognizable dress of the character she is impersonating. Her costume as Arlecchina, which underlines her close relationship with Arlecchino, is in the fashion of the seventeenth century, but is also covered with patches of different colors. Much better dressed than the male servants, since she is a lady's maid, Colombina does love Arlecchino, but sees through him. Therefore she scolds him, punishes him, deserts him, and takes him back, but in the end he does not change, and she accepts him for what he is.

Autonomous and self-sufficient, Colombina sometimes seems to be the only lucid, rational mask in the commedia dell'arte. Just like the lovers and the magnifichi. Colombina can read and write; in fact, she is very fond of books and owns many. The main difference between Arlecchino and her is that while he thinks on his feet, Colombina uses her brain and thinks things through. She sings, dances, captivates, and has gone beyond her go-between origins to become a self-educated woman.

In this respect Colombina is influenced by her contact with her mistress, the innamorata. The prima donna innamorata, usually the daughter of Pantalone, is also beautiful, flirtatious, and provocative, but she is so stubborn and headstrong that she usually gets her own way, even over her father. The lovers (amorosi or innamorati) needed for a full scenario are Arlecchino's master and Colombina's mistress. They belong to the aristocracy, and while they do not wear an actual mask, they are always heavily made up.

The instructions provided in the scenario for the interpretation of these roles are all in general terms, and thus our imagination becomes essential if the force of the lovers is to be appreciated. Fashionably dressed and elegant in their demeanor, all of the innamorati—no matter whether they are the children of the Venetian Pantalone or the Bolognese Dottore—must speak good, almost precious Tuscan. Their sublime dialogues often seem drawn from the poetry of Petrarch's sonnets, and this imparts a subtle, comical effect to their characters, while the actors portraying these roles make, probably more than any other mask, great use of the discorsi obbligati, the memorized dialogues. These dialogues, so highly mannered as to deserve the titles of arias, are introduced deliberately to keep the lovers in harmony with the comedy as a whole. The love theme is constant, but the varieties of its presentation are infinite, while complications, misunderstandings, and outbursts of jealousy sweep across the stage in dark, comic despair. Occasionally, one of the men goes mad for love, but the women are always undergoing the frenzy of love, and their scenes of pazzia (madness) are ever due for applause.

The innamorata, whose purity is as absolute as it is unassailable and whose love is genteelly, albeit possessively, bestowed upon her innamorato, always desperately needs Colombina's and Arlecchino's help, together with her beloved, in order to oppose Pantalone's and/or Dottore's plans. There is no special costume for either one of the lovers, and little also to indicate the mistress or the serving maid. The only differences between the costume of the innamorata and that of the servetta are of degree, not of kind, with one dressed in beautiful, heavy silk, satin, or brocade, and the other in light cotton or muslin. Where Colombina is iridescent, a bubble light as air, her mistress is opalescent, clouded with untouchable reserves. Colombina is frank, lucid, a pagan amoralist. Her mistress is hidden, emotional, and secret.

As a servant to Isabella, Colombina lucidly remonstrates with her mistress, who is usually desolated at the prospect of being forced to marry a man she does not love:

You will live as live the majority of wives in Paris. … You will be prodigal and when you shall have consumed the greater part of your husband's fortune in gowns, equipages, and jewels, you will part company with him; your marriage portion will be returned to you, and you will live thereafter as a great lady. … Do you think that rich men are married to be loved?

(Arlequino Protéo, Sand 165)

Thus the narrative purpose of the second zanni, now Arlecchino, and of his fiancée Colombina is to intensify and confuse the dynamics of the amorous tension between the lovers. Arlecchino and Colombina both help their master and mistress attain their love and at the same time, Arlecchino especially, create a great deal of comical confusion on stage. With their own love, the servants consistently offer an amusing and sexually frank parody of their masters' sublime relationship. Often they mimic a love scene, standing behind the two lovers and parodying them in an overtly sexual way. Are we seeing four characters, or perhaps the conscious and unconscious longing of love itself? By bringing a different, coarser, and more realistic mood to the same feeling, Arlecchino and Colombina amplify the theatrical representation of love while turning every stereotypical facet of the innamorati's exchange into a bawdy, comical parody.

The majority of commedia dell'arte plays give over much of their action to the fortunes of the lovers, and it is obvious that the audiences both delighted in watching intricate variations played on familiar themes and were prepared to accept the repetition, in a different key, of certain common conventions. Only very occasionally among the scenarios do we find any elements that are truly new.

Peculiarly, the conventions of commedia dell'arte are the same as those popular on the Elizabethan as well as the Spanish Siglo de Oro stage: the characters are continually resorting to disguises. Even in Scala's scenarios, where this trick does not appear inordinately, many plots, such as that of Il finto Tofano, would fall to pieces were costume transformation omitted. The same could be said of the many disguises adopted by Don Juan and his servant in the numerous commedia dell'arte scenarios dedicated to the Don Juan myth.

When the lovers do meet on stage, they are usually so much in love and tongue-tied, with their beautiful speeches, that their need for their servants as interpreters becomes prominent. Zanni/Arlecchino and Zania/Colombina proceed to misinterpret the lovers' statements either through stupidity (Arlecchino) or calculated self-interest (Colombina). Thus the innamorato and the innamorata are as indispensable to the development of the plot as were the original four masks of magnifichi and zanni. Without the innamorati and their inability to resolve their own problems, there would be no function for Zanni and Zania, no struggle between the ineffectiveness of youth and the implacability of age. The lovers are never alone on stage, as it would not have been proper for two young people in love to be alone in real life. On stage, they always have someone watching over them spying, or translating their emotions. They need a whole troupe of actors helping or hindering them, before they can finally reach the ultimate conclusion of their love and get married.

CRITICAL RECEPTION

The dynamic relationship between innamorati and servants maintains the same relevance even in recent times. This can be seen in Dario Fo's and his wife Franca Rame's Arlecchino Show. Against the background of instinctive sympathy for the commedia dell'arte, Dario Fo came to his Arlecchino production in 1985 as a result of the prompting of academics. Fo's radical left-wing ideological stance from the 1970s prompted the playwright to see in Arlecchino a universal gadfly, a creature di disturbo (of trouble/interference). Arlecchino is thus interpreted by Fo as a subversive personality, which, he feels, simply broadens the function and applicability from Zanni (who must always be the servant, always inferior, physically and visually lower than the Magnifico) to a greater diversity of roles, impersonating both society's servant and also society's inquisitor (Fo 70-71).

In the show performed in the winter of 1986, an extended monologue was inserted for Franca Rame in which she relates the story of the Magnifico's wife Isabella, sexually frustrated, who must learn from the prostitute her husband is known to frequent how to win him back. The lesson given to the wife by the prostitute, Eleonore, provides the actress with a unique opportunity to instruct all women in the audience (replete with mime, obscene details, and voice effects) in the techniques of seduction. The monologue is a translation into period costume, with the license conferred by the commedia dell'arte, of the love chase from a female viewpoint. While this dialogue is not substantially different from the old Colombina/Isabella exchange in the scenario quoted earlier, here it is also an ironic treatment of feminist polemic.

Franca Rame has devoted her professional life to creating an essential comic space for a satire that is directed first at social conventions and then is focused more sharply on the unfairness of the economic and political conditions of contemporary society. First known for her 1950s dumb-blond film roles, in the late 1960s Rame became involved with roles that were increasingly politically committed. Since 1977, beginning with Parliamo di donne (Let's Talk about Women) and Tutta casa, letto e chiesa (A Woman All Home, Bed, and Church), Franca Rame openly revealed Fo's and her concern for the condition of women in Italy.

The actors of the original commedia dell'arte were too concerned with their immediate survival to bring forth authentic, socially subversive messages in their plays. Fo simply uses an adaptation or selection of styles from past commedia plays (mostly taken from old scenarios belonging to Rame's family) to bring us face-to-face with contemporary social and political causes of a deep-rooted European theatrical tradition. Accordingly, he proves that commedia dell'arte is an actual language, and that if there is to be a regeneration of the theatrical medium in the next century, it must come via the reempowering of the performer, rather than the continued hegemony of playwright and director.

In conclusion, if we reexamine the term “commedia dell'arte,” we must stress that arte can be translated into English not only as art, but also as craft, and know-how. Dario Fo underlines that it also indicates license: the granting to actors of a professional and therefore protected status. History has not settled on the most accurate locution of commedia dell'arte, according to Dario Fo: “I find correct, in fact, the idea proposed by some scholars of calling this genre instead of Commedia dell'Arte, comedy of the comedians or, more specifically of the actors. The entire theatrical translation rests on their shoulders: The actor as histrion and author, stage manager, storyteller, director” (14-15).

Selected Bibliography

Arlequin et ses masques: Actes du Colloque Franco-Italien de Dijon. (5-7 Septembre 1991). Dijon: Publications de l'Université de Bourgogne, 1991.

Beaumont, Cyril W. The History of Harlequin. London: Beaumont, 1926.

Cairns, Christopher. “Dario Fo and the Commedia dell'Arte.” In Studies in the Commedia dell'Arte, ed. David J. George and Christopher J. Gossip. Cardiff: U of Wales P, 1993: 247-265.

Cottino-Jones, Marga. “Franca Rame on Stage: The Militant Voice of a Resisting Woman.” Italica 72.3 (Autumn 1995): 321-339.

Daniel, Howard. The Commedia dell'Arte and Jacques Callot. Sydney: Wentworth, 1965.

Duchartre, Pierre Louis. La comédie italienne. Paris: Librairie de France, 1925.

Enciclopedia Garzanti dello Spettacolo. Milan: Garzanti, 1977.

Falavolti, Laura, ed. Commedie dei comici dell'arte. Turin: UTET, 1982.

Fido, Franco. “Dario Fo e la commedia dell'arte.” Italica 72.3 (Autumn 1995): 298-306.

Fo, Dario. The Tricks of the Trade (Manuale minimo dell'attore). Trans. Joe Farrell. London: Methuen, 1991.

Forti-Lewis, Angelica. Maschere, libretti, e libertini: Il mito di Don Giovanni nel teatro europeo. Rome: Bulzoni, 1992.

Goldoni, Carlo. Tutte le opere. Ed. Giuseppe Ortolani. Milan: Mondadori, 1959.

Gordon, Mel, ed. Lazzi: The Comic Routines of the Commedia dell'Arte. New York: Performing Arts Journal Publications, 1983.

Grano, Enzo. Pulcinella e Sciosciammocca: Storia di un teatro chiamato Napoli. Naples: Berisio, 1974.

Mic, C. La commedia dell'arte. Paris: Schiffrin, 1927.

Molinari, Cesare. La commedia dell'arte. Milan: Mondadori, 1985.

Nicolini, Fausto. Vita di Arlecchino. Milan: Ricciardi, 1958.

Nicoll, Allardyce. Masks, Mimes, and Miracles. New York: Cooper Square, 1963.

———. The World of Harlequin. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1963.

Niklaus, Thelma. Harlequin Phoenix. London: Bodley Head, 1956.

Pandolfi, Vito. La commedia dell'arte: Storia e testo. 6 vols. Florence: Sansoni, 1957-1961.

Riccoboni, Luigi. Discorso: della commedia all'improvviso e scenari inediti. Ed. Irene Mamczarz. Milan: Il Polifilo, 1973.

———. Histoire: du théâtre italien depuis la décadence de la comédie latine. Paris: Delormel, 1728.

Rudlin, John. Commedia dell'Arte: An Actor's Handbook. London and New York: Routledge, 1994.

Ruzzante (Angelo Beolco). Teatro. Ed. Ludovico Zorzi. Turin: Einaudi, 1967.

Sand, Maurice. The History of the Harlequinade. 2 vols. London: Secker, 1915.

Scala, Flaminio. Scenarios of the Commedia dell'Arte. Trans. Henry F. Salerno. New York: New York UP, 1967.

Scherillo, Michele. La commedia dell'arte in Italia. Turin: Loescher, 1884.

Schwartz, I. A. The Commedia dell'Arte and Its Influence on French Comedy. New York: Paris Publications, 1933.