Tartaglia, Pulcinella and Scaramouche, all three are characters from the Southern Commedia dell'Arte. Very different from the Northern Commedia dell'Arte.
Tartaglia is a stutter and plays one of the old men in the Southern Commedia dell'Arte. His mask was actually a large pair of thick huge green or blue glasses. Costume was green cloak and trousers with bordered with yellow. The Tartaglia mask that most people use and style off of today was originally created as a Greek Tragedy mask by Satori about the 1960's and Jacque Lecoq my teacher saw it when he was working on it and said, "I can use that as a Tartaglia mask." Going to the iconography of the time Tartaglia is without a mask, wearing thick green or blue glasses as his mask. He is one of the two main old men of the Southern Commedia dell'Arte. He can be a lawyer or apothecary. In the book, The Commedia dell'Arte in Naples: 176 Casamariano Scenarios; Pantalone is in only one of the 176 scenarios as a very minor character. Tartaglia is in all of them. Tartaglia is the main southern Commedia dell'Arte old man, the other old man is Dottore.
Pulcinella, is a little all over the place and plays anything, from servant, which he does a lot, to a soldier, old man, love etc. We know this from reading several The Commedia dell'Arte in Naples: 176 Scenarios. His costume was very much of a peasant and he is a humpback. He is both witty, ridiculous, can be very mean or sweet and you can take some of your movement cue's from these elements. Of course different Pulcinella players would have variations of a Pulcinella masks. Each player would play his Pulcinella mask and movements their own way. Pulcinella is from Naples and this also gives you clues into his character and movement.
Scaramouche is 1700's, he started out with a mask and then dropped it. He is a combination of Brighella and Capitano. As solders of fortune fell out of use, the Capitano character merged with Brighella, becoming Scaramouche type characters. Most of his performing life Scaramouche played without a mask. He was an excellent mime, very physical, he could slap his face with his foot, musical, very clever and witty. A famous movement piece he did; wrapping his cloak around him and starting up stage center and squatting all the way down. He look very small. Then would very slowly walk down stage and each very small step he would get taller until he was standing up. His cloak covered his legs so you could only see the cloak his face and hat. The illusion created, he looked like he was coming from a very long distance, when actually he just walked from up stage to down stage. One has to be in excellent shape to do this. A rare book was translated into English about him called, "The Life of Scaramouch" the copy I have is from The Noverre Press.
Scapino is another main servant character similar to Brighella. He was very musical. Can be a very much a cloak and dagger character. Will take to his heals when need arises, often creates confusion. His name relates to flee or escape. He creates confusion of everything as Brighella does as well. As to the Scapino mask, you can use a Brighella mask that is a little more cloak and dagger or cunning. My Brighella #3 mask is sometimes used for Scapino who is also very romantic, becoming taken with the birds and flowers as well.
Books: "The Italian Comedy" by Pierre Louis Duchartre. It is out of print but you can still find it. Your library should have it. If it does not, just use the National Lending Library system thought you main city library. It is an excellent resource, with lots of prints, as well as history and scenarii.
"The Commedia dell'Arte" By Giacomo Oreglia, this book according to the late master of Commedia dell'Arte, Carlo Mazzone Clementi is the most accurate book in English on Commedia dell'Arte. Of course it is out of print, but you should be able to get it though your library or the National Lending Library system.
"The Life of Scaramouch" from The Noverre Press.
The Commedia dell'Arte in Naples: 176 Casamariano Scenarios by The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
All four of these books are well written, easy to read and comprehend.
You can also go to my website Mask Arts Company in the Commedia dell'Arte section. There are several article with history. In the list of Commedia dell'Arte masks there are Character descriptions next to each mask go to Mask Arts Company Commedia dell'Arte Masks
https://www.maskarts.com/commediadellarte.htm
Any questions on Commedia dell'Arte or masks please feel free to ask and you can contact me directly though my website.
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[Stanley Allan] [Sherman] [Custom theater mask making, Commedia dell'Arte masks & workshops. NYC winter holiday workshops and summer workshops]
[Mask Maker, Commedia dell'Arte expert, Teacher, Mime, Movement, Actor, Director, performer, producer of workshops and shows.]
[Mask Arts Company
www.maskart.com][New York] [NY][
stanley@maskarts.com[212-255-2882][
il-dottore@commediau.com][New York][NY][Roving Classical Commedia University* (*totally unaccredited) ]
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-22-2019 14:07
From: James Van Leishout
Subject: Commedia Dell'arte
I need help. Anyone out there with commedia experience and knowledge? I am working on a commedia character compendium and need stance/walks for Tartaglia, Pulcinella, and Scaramouche. I also need a description of Scapino's mask.
Thank you.
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James Van Leishout
Olympia WA
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