Commedia Essentials

Tony Kishawi has distilled the basic essentials for teaching Commedia within a limited rehearsal or school unit timetable. This course will take you through exercises and improvisations that will get results for a small theatre ensemble to grasp the spirit of Commedia del’Arte. Tony is teachings is based on good audience interaction which is the heart of Commedia del’Arte performance.

Course Curriculum

Module One
	Finding the Spirit of the Mask	00:00:00
Finding the Spirit of the Mask is the first essential ingredient for initiation into Mask work.
	What is the meaning of the term ‘Spirit of the mask’?	10, 00:00
	Traditional Moves	00:00:00
The Traditional Moves And Why They Are There (Creating a common movement palette that is the foundation for successful physical improvisation/games)
	The Voice Lesson	00:00:00
Finding A Voice For Your Mask (Allow the voice to come from the inspiration of discovering the mask)
	The Lineup	00:15:00
The Traditional Moves putting it al togerther (Creating a common movement palette that is the foundation for successful physical improvisation/games)
Module Two
	High-Status Characters	00:10:00
High-Status Maskless Characters (How to find the high-status actors in your class, not everyone likes mask work)
	Pantalone	00:00:00
	Il Doctore’	00:15:00
The Doctor usually wears an academic graduation cloak with the square flat hat and tassel. The mask is quite particular consisting of simply the nose and forehead.
	Il Capitanio	00:20:00
The stance of the Captain is not like the servants at all because he is very upright with straight legs. He struts around like a Shakespearian actor always trying to have the right leg upstage so that the other leg is open towards his audience and taking the audience in with one arm stretched.
	Tartaglia	00:15:00
Tataglia is another high-status character that is very old like Pantalone. It is said they have been good friends for a very long time, but Tataglia has a public servant type of mentality. He is often given roles as such in scenarios.
Module Three
	The Maskless Characters	00:00:00
	Colinbina	00:00:00
	Cavalier	00:00:00
	La Donna	00:00:00
	The Lovers	00:00:00
	Pedrolino	00:00:00
Module Four
	Master / Servant (Casting insights)	00:00:00
	How to create a Classic Commedia Skit	00:00:00
	Creating something out of nothing!	10, 00:00
Module Five
	The Skeleton Structure	00:00:00
	Creating something out of nothing!	10, 00:00
	Play back with an outside eye	00:00:00
	Final Presentation with an Audience	00:00:00
FAQ's that your students might ask you
	Why just seven main characters?	00:00:00
	Why are we doing 16th Century stuff?	00:00:00
	Why teach Commedia?	00:00:00
	Why is Commedia good for high school drama students?	00:00:00