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Commedia dell'Arte was an improvised form of theatre.It's an oral tradition, so it

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doesn't start in the brain with language and text, it starts in the body by

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experiencing something. And when you commit 100% to the shape and energy, you begin to

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get the essence of the character that you're playing. There are three types of characters: masters and

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the servants who are masked, and the lovers who are unmasked. In the masks, there's a lot of

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information, so what we want to do is put in the body the thing that matches the mask in your energy and your

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sound, and the way that you think. Because the wore half masks, and the mask is fixed, it's the work

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that you do with your voice and your body and your emotions that brings the mask to life.

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And the masks are types; the characters are types. For example, the doctor is really large and he

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oozes words and thoughts. He's like oil. Whereas his neighbor, Pantelone is really mean and vinegary.

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These are the positions of the main characters in commedia. Each of these has their own

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characteristics and their own energies.They have a distinct walking pattern and a particular shape.

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It's a fantastic template for an actor to put into their body and make their own.

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Didi: You're going to put your finger on your nose, and you're going to pull it forward...

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Let the arms go like that, and now put them as if their nose... absolutely.

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And this is what's going to happen, you're going to go.... nose is leading. That whole shape goes all the way to the

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tips of your fingers. So, you hear the breath, absolutely hear the breath, because that's the basis of everything.

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Shape, head. And what you're going to do, you're going to metamorphose, mmmm...

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and you're going to go up into sort of nothingness, and then you're just going to stick your chest out

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that's the thing that's going to go through the room first. Put the chest back but let the belly come out.

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When you shift your frame, when you lead with another part of the body, you start to get a

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feeling of that character. Light on the feet, not.. (stomps.)

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(Makes noises) And that is a breathing moment because it opens up the lungs.

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And as this is the doctor, it always gives him a thinking moment...the belly goes first.

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However you want to turn, make a moment of it. This is the one bit of theatre where you do as much as

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you can in between moments so that you can sculpt it away rather than have to add things.

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Keep that belly. Put your finger there and just hmmmm. And the chin's out and the knees out

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Pantelone, Scrooge, Faegan, Mr. Burns. What happens when you start with an impulse in the

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body, and the body leads? You get a sense, you get a feeling, you get a rhythm. Loose hips, playful,

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open. An artful dodger, or Arlecchino. So that's just the beginning of the idea of those different shapes.

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Magnifico, with his head. The first actor and the first actress, shoulders.

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The doctor, his belly. His neighbor Pantalone, bent back. Closed hips, Brighella. Open hips, Arlecchino.

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The captain, knees. And Zanni, nose and feet.

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In their shape, the character is clear. When the action is really clear, it has a sort of flipbook or

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comic book effect. It's like frame by frame and the two the character and the action, is absolutely the

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beginning of storytelling. Before language. Understanding what the action is in order for the

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story to happen.