Commedia dell'Arte Research Entry 1: Introduction & Origins

The Commedia dell'Arte (Comedy of Professional Artists/Actors) is a form of improvised comedy that was very popular within it's origins in Italy in the 16th and 17th centuries. The words within these comedies were not written down on a script, rendering them to come from the actors' own mind, hence it being improvised comedy. Since these words were not written down, the actors would work to a plot framework and make up their own words for the performance.

The use of mime was an important part within these performances, but the words should not be forgotten about. The Commedia dell'Arte used all areas of the performing arts within a performance.

These areas are listed as followed:

• Music
• Singing
• Dancing
• Acting
• Mime
• Acrobatics
• Juggling
• Magic

All of the actors in these companies knew the ways of the others so well that all of them could co-operate and play harmoniously together. Later, as time went on, some of the more popular plots were repeated many times. They have been written down and we can still play them today.

The companies of Commedia dell'Arte travelled to many countries, resulting in their popularity to increase exponentially over the years. In 1570, there were reports of of resident companies at the Austrian, Hungarian and Bavarian courts. The companies usually travelled to France more often than others, but at some time, whilst in Paris, the actors started to poke fun at the Parisian Authorities and things got so bad that a bye-law was passed forbidding the Italian actors in Paris to use 'vulgar speech and spread profanity'. 

This happening resulted in the Commedia dell'Arte actors to not speak during their performances, so this made other aspects become more prominent. Any words that would have been spoken were now to be sung or chanted, there were many more dances, more spectacle and there was also much more uses of Mime involved. 

The 'Mime' part of the performance began to develop so much over the years from then until the present, making Commedia dell'Arte a very strong kind of performance within the 'Physical Theatre' part of the Performing Arts Industry. Most of the actors in the early Commedia performances were had solo Mime scenes called 'Lazzi'. The traditional Mime gestures we see now in present day originated from traditional Commedia Mime plays, and some of the classical ballets were established within these plays also.