WEBVTT 00:00:02.300 --> 00:00:08.380 Commedia dell'Arte was an improvised form of theatre.It's an oral tradition, so it 00:00:08.380 --> 00:00:12.680 doesn't start in the brain with language and text, it starts in the body by 00:00:12.680 --> 00:00:18.860 experiencing something. And when you commit 100% to the shape and energy, you begin to 00:00:18.860 --> 00:00:25.740 get the essence of the character that you're playing. There are three types of characters: masters and 00:00:25.740 --> 00:00:31.940 the servants who are masked, and the lovers who are unmasked. In the masks, there's a lot of 00:00:31.940 --> 00:00:37.479 information, so what we want to do is put in the body the thing that matches the mask in your energy and your 00:00:37.479 --> 00:00:45.300 sound, and the way that you think. Because the wore half masks, and the mask is fixed, it's the work 00:00:45.300 --> 00:00:50.860 that you do with your voice and your body and your emotions that brings the mask to life. 00:00:50.860 --> 00:00:57.634 And the masks are types; the characters are types. For example, the doctor is really large and he 00:00:57.634 --> 00:01:07.300 oozes words and thoughts. He's like oil. Whereas his neighbor, Pantelone is really mean and vinegary. 00:01:07.300 --> 00:01:13.900 These are the positions of the main characters in commedia. Each of these has their own 00:01:13.900 --> 00:01:22.020 characteristics and their own energies.They have a distinct walking pattern and a particular shape. 00:01:22.020 --> 00:01:28.516 It's a fantastic template for an actor to put into their body and make their own. 00:01:28.516 --> 00:01:34.780 Didi: You're going to put your finger on your nose, and you're going to pull it forward... 00:01:34.780 --> 00:01:39.180 Let the arms go like that, and now put them as if their nose... absolutely. 00:01:39.180 --> 00:01:48.460 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 00:01:48.460 --> 00:01:54.430 tips of your fingers. So, you hear the breath, absolutely hear the breath, because that's the basis of everything. 00:01:54.430 --> 00:02:07.015 Shape, head. And what you're going to do, you're going to metamorphose, mmmm... 00:02:07.015 --> 00:02:13.500 and you're going to go up into sort of nothingness, and then you're just going to stick your chest out 00:02:13.500 --> 00:02:27.460 that's the thing that's going to go through the room first. Put the chest back but let the belly come out. 00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:32.139 When you shift your frame, when you lead with another part of the body, you start to get a 00:02:32.139 --> 00:02:40.700 feeling of that character. Light on the feet, not.. (stomps.) 00:02:40.700 --> 00:02:53.700 (Makes noises) And that is a breathing moment because it opens up the lungs. 00:02:53.700 --> 00:03:02.325 And as this is the doctor, it always gives him a thinking moment...the belly goes first. 00:03:02.325 --> 00:03:08.409 However you want to turn, make a moment of it. This is the one bit of theatre where you do as much as 00:03:08.409 --> 00:03:15.900 you can in between moments so that you can sculpt it away rather than have to add things. 00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:21.980 Keep that belly. Put your finger there and just hmmmm. And the chin's out and the knees out 00:03:21.980 --> 00:03:32.500 Pantelone, Scrooge, Faegan, Mr. Burns. What happens when you start with an impulse in the 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:42.460 body, and the body leads? You get a sense, you get a feeling, you get a rhythm. Loose hips, playful, 00:03:42.460 --> 00:03:56.340 open. An artful dodger, or Arlecchino. So that's just the beginning of the idea of those different shapes. 00:03:56.340 --> 00:04:01.118 Magnifico, with his head. The first actor and the first actress, shoulders. 00:04:01.118 --> 00:04:12.900 The doctor, his belly. His neighbor Pantalone, bent back. Closed hips, Brighella. Open hips, Arlecchino. 00:04:12.900 --> 00:04:19.340 The captain, knees. And Zanni, nose and feet. 00:04:19.340 --> 00:04:28.940 In their shape, the character is clear. When the action is really clear, it has a sort of flipbook or 00:04:28.940 --> 00:04:40.824 comic book effect. It's like frame by frame and the two the character and the action, is absolutely the 00:04:40.824 --> 00:04:49.260 beginning of storytelling. Before language. Understanding what the action is in order for the 00:04:49.260 --> 00:04:52.368 story to happen.