Commedia Dell’arte as the Foundation of Comedy free essay sample

The consensus by many scholars today that Commedia dell’Arte is the basic foundation of all comedy is agreeable because majority if not all of the modern television shows are modeled after Commedia dell’Arte. Commedia dell’Arte translates, as â€Å"comedy of skills† is style of theater characterized by improvisation by the actors drawing from only scenarios. The origins of Commedia dell’Arte could be traced to its birthplace in Italy during the sixteenth century when it remained popular until mid-eighteenth century (Rudlin, 2003). To illustrate that the influence of Commedia dell’Arte is still prevalent, I will discuss specific characteristics of the characters and production style commonly associated with Commedia dell’Arte found in examples from the television show â€Å"Family Guy† and Goldoni’s play â€Å"A Servant of Two Masters† where the similarities to Commedia dell’Arte overlap. The characters of Commedia dell’Arte usually represent fixed social types. It has three main stock roles: servant/zanni, master, and lovers/innamorati (Katritzky, 2006). We will write a custom essay sample on Commedia Dell’arte as the Foundation of Comedy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Rudlin (2003) maintains that the characters themselves are often referred to as masks, which, cannot be separated from the character. These characters, whose roles, characteristics, and costumes were well defined and widely known where often instantly recognized from their dressing and character traits to their expectations. In A Servant of Two Masters, some of these stock characters included Servants (Truffaldino Smeraldina), Lovers (Silvio Clarice, Beatrice Florindo). While in Family Guy, the cartoons always look Commedia dell’Arte; the masks are like caricatures of the types of people in our communities. The lovers could be the children (Meg, Chris and Stewie), who are concerned with things like school, love and peer pressure. Brian, the dog could pass for a servant/zani with Lois and Peter as the Masters. This stereotyping of characters made it enjoyable and exciting for the audience to associate with the particular characters, a characteristic that has not been lost since the commedia days. Commedia dell’Arte highly depended on improvisation especially from the actors, who where expected to use jokes and stock physical gags to excite the audience. An advantage of this was, 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. As such, the performances often were based on scenarios that gave some semblance of plot to the largely improvised format. Family Guy is famous for such plot lines, the numerous cut away gags and literally targeting every subject under the sun. For example, several times, Stewie’s elaborate and complex plans to finish off his mother never come to fruit and she instead carries him off. Peter also commonly makes practical jokes and often will cut off to a completely unrelated part of the story line, such as fighting a chicken or a story about his relative. That is some hilarious stuff. Mean while in A Servant of Two Masters, the scenarios are designed for improvisations from the actors. There are plots within plots and even subplots that cross paths and plans that always some how work or backfire on the initiators. Truffaldino, the main character of the play always carried a wooden sword, which he used for many zany bits and gags. He also seemed always hungry and in one hilarious scene, he attempts to serve his two masters dinner without being discovered and at the same time sneaks bites of the dinner for himself. In conclusion, although many elements of Commedia are seen in today’s television shows and theater, only two have been discussed in detail as shown above. From the characters to the performances of Commedia which lasted for over 200 years and elements where only improved or changed but it did not completely die off. The use of stock characters is still practiced today and so are the zany bits and gags as illustrated with the examples of A servant of Two Masters and Family Guy. While many other plays and television shows follow the basic Commedia style, these two examples are suitable to show and indicate that Commedia dell’Arte still rages on.