Monday, July 28, 2008

Pulcinella, the southern Zanni



Pulcinella, often called Punch or Punchinello in English, Polichinelle in French, is a classical character that originated in the Commedia dell'arte of the 17th century and became a stock character in Neapolitan puppetry.

His main characteristic, from which he acquired his name, is his extremely long nose, which resembles a beak. In Latin, this was a pullus gallinaceus, which led to the word "Pulliciniello" and "Pulcinella", related to the Italian pulcino or chick.
According to another version, "Pulcinella" derived from the name of Puccio d'Aniello, a peasant of Acerra, who was portrayed in a famous picture attribued to Annibale Carracci, and indeed characterized by a long nose. It has also been suggested that the figure is a caricature of a sufferer of acromegaly.

Ever white dressed and black masked (hence conciliating the opposites of life and death), he stands out thanks to his peculiar voice, the sharp and vibrant of qualities of which contribute intense tempo of the show. According to Pierre Louis Duchartre, his traditional temperament is to be mean, vicious, and crafty: his main mode of defense is to pretend to be too stupid to know what's going on, and his secondary mode is to physically beat people. Actually Pulcinella is an archetype of humanity, with all its complexities and contradictions.

He is either stupid pretending to be clever, or clever pretending to be stupid, either way, he is always pretending and self-centered. He has no more care for human life than that of a flea. He loves to pick a fight and then to shed blood. He loves food and drink and sex, but will not work for it. He talks about himself in the third person and absolutely cannot keep a secret.

Many regional variants of Pulcinella were developed as the character defused across Europe. In Germany, Pulcinella came to be known as Kasper. In the Netherlands he is known as Jan Klaassen. In Denmark he is Mester Jakel. in Russia he is known as Petrushka (however, Igor Stravinsky composed two different ballets Pulcinella and Petrushka); in Romania, he is Vasilache; and in France Polichinelle, while in England, he inspired the character of Mister Punch of Punch and Judy.

Pulcinella is also the mascot of the Pulcinella Awards, annual awards for excellence in animation, presented at the Cartoons on the Bay Festival in Positano, Italy.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Some quotes on Arlecchino




Harlequin proved himself the prince of numskulls from birth, but his stupidity was intermittently relieved by flashes of shrewd wit. -Duchartre

The acting of the Harlequins before the 17th Century was nothing but a continual play of extravagant tricks, violent movements, and outrageous rogueries. He was at once insolent, mocking, inept, clownish, and emphatically ribald. I believe that he was extraordinary agile, and he seemed to be constantly in the air; and I might confidently add that he was a proficient tumbler. – Riccoboni

…he is so absent minded that he searches everywhere for the donkey on which he is mounted, like an old woman who is always hunting for the spectacles perched on her own forehead. – Duchartre

His character is a mixture of ignorance, naivete, wit, stupidity and grace. He is both a rake and an overgrown boy with occasional gleams of intelligence, and his mistakes and clumsiness often have wayward charm. His acting is patterned on the lithe, agile grace of a young cat, and he has a superficial coarseness which makes his performances all the more amusing. He plays the role of a faithful valet, always patient, credulous, and greedy. He is enternally amorous, and is constantly in difficulties either on his own or on his master’s account. He is hurt and confronted in turn as easily as a child, asn his grief is almost as comic as his joy. – Jean-Francois Marmontel (1723-99)

His character is that of an ignorant valet, fundamentally nnaïve but nevertheless making every effort to be intelligent, even to the extent of seeming malicious. He is a glutton and a poltroon, but faithful and energetic. Through motives of fear or cupidity he is always ready to undertake any sort of rascality and deciet. He is a chameleon which takes on every color. He must excel in impromptu, and the first thing that the public always asks of a new Harlequin is that he be agile, and that he jump well, dance and turn somersaults. - Duchartre (Calendrier historique des theatres (1751)

Never pathetic, always knows: he is never the loser. Never just does something. For example, if, in the heat of the moment, his slapstick gets left on the ground, he somersaults to pick it up again. His paradox is that of having a dull mind in an agile body. Since, however, his body does not recognize the inadequacy of the mind which drives it, he is never short of a solution: the fact that he cannot read, for example, does not hinder him from divuldging the contents of a letter. As developed into the French, Arlequin in the mid-17th Century by Domenico Biancolelli, he became more quick-witted. But even then he could only entertain one idea at a time, and never contemplated the consequences of an action or learned from the experience of it. He responds to everything – hunger, love, danger – in a way that is taken to apocalyptic proportions and then forgotten entirely – until the next time. A very Latin temperment… but never malicious. He is very likely to become disguised later in the action, for example as a priest in order to conduct a mock wedding, or as a Turk, a pilgrim, a rich benefactor, or a cross-dressed in order to fulfill a rendevous. – Rudlin

Friday, July 18, 2008

Commedia Dell'Arte


Commedia dell'Arte (Italian: "play of professional artists") is a form of improvisational theatre that began in Italy in the 16th century and held its popularity through the 18th century, although it is still performed today. Performances were unscripted, held outside, and used few props. They were free to watch, funded by donations. A troupe consisted of ten people: eight men and two women. Outside Italy the form was also known as "Italian Comedy".

Conventional plot lines written on themes of adultery, jealousy, old age, and love. Many of the basic plot elements can be traced back to the Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence, some of which were themselves translations of lost Greek comedies of the fourth century BC. Performers made use of well-rehearsed jokes and stock physical gags, known as Lazzi and Concetti, as well as, of course, on-the-spot improvised and interpolated episodes and routines, called burle (singular burla, Italian for joke), usually involving a practical joke. Since the productions were improvised, dialogue and action could easily be changed to satirize local scandals, current events, or regional tastes, while still using old jokes and punch lines. Characters were identified by costumes, masks, and even props, such as a type of baton known as a slapstick. These characters included the forebears of the modern clown, namely Harlequin (English for arlecchino) and Zanni.

The classic, traditional plot is that the innamorati are in love and wish to be married, but one elder (vecchio) or several elders (vecchi) are stopping this from happening, leading the lovers to ask one or more zanni (eccentric servants) for help. Typically the story ends happily, with the marriage of the innamorati and forgiveness for any wrongdoings. There are countless variations on this story, as well as many that diverge wholly from the structure, such as a well-known story about Arlecchino becoming mysteriously pregnant, or the Punch and Judy scenario.