3 minutes In a pair or group of 3- create a short presentation showing everything you know about Comedia Dell’arte.

Slapstick comedy

This usually involves someone getting hurt. What is slapstick? The term actually comes from a prop carried by Arlechino- which was a slapstick. Slapstick is a style of humour involving exaggerated physical activity which exceeds the boundaries of common sense. This usually involves someone getting hurt.

Rules of slapstick Exaggeration Repetition Dramatic Irony Rule of 3 In Commedia, a joke is usually made of how any violence/ falls are fake- this is done by using large movements and over the top sound effects

lazzi Lazzi is a short improvised moment purely for entertainment, this might be- Humorous remarks (off text impro) Acrobatics Juggling Wrestling

Create a scene using characters of your choice- Improv Create a scene using characters of your choice- Lovers pass messages to each other through Arlechinno- he messes it up. They punish him for it. Dottore is inflicted with an injury and misdiagnoses himself, Colambinna takes great pleasure in inflicting these silly treatments on him (classic is a bellows in the bum)

Servant of two masters This is the classic Commedia play (even though it was written 200 years after the commedia hey day, but then no one wrote plays then, it was all scenarios to improvise. We’ll read a bit and descide which character is which etc.