Inspirations in Commedia dell'Arte by members of the Barony of the Cleftlands
This past weekend was the Standard Bearers championships for the Barony of the Cleftlands. For those not familiar with the Society for Creative Anachronism, this is the event which will determine which good gentle represents the Barony for the next year in archery, fencing, heavy armored combat, and arts & sciences. The last one, A&S, was reinstated after years of absence by Their Excellencies Calum and Constanza with the only rule on documentation that the entry be inspired by another member of the Barony.
The moment they spoke these conditions, I felt compelled to enter. Not because I believed I would win (though if I had I would have served the Cleftlands to the best of my ability), but because I know so much of my art in commedia dell'arte (both inside and outside the SCA) is heavily helped and inspired by numerous others, including many in the Barony. I felt obligated to represent my art and honor both those who lead me down this path and the Cleftlands by competing. And as such we presented before Their Excellencies and others Buckets of Ducats, a wonderful short farce created during the Iron Commedia workshop we held last fall.
I also submitted my "documentation", an essay about who inspired by. Because I wish to sing their praise, I want to publish this here as well.
Inspirations in Commedia dell'Arte by members of the Barony of the Cleftlands
When I first joined the Barony of the Cleftlands, it was by the kindness of Mistress Milesent Vibert and Lady Lyonette Vibert. And while I quickly became enamored of the Society, I didn't realize yet what path it would take my life in just a few years.
In fall of 2003, the Case Western Reserve University Medieval Society (the re-start of a student club I had earlier helped found with encouragement from the Cleftlands) decided to perform a Period play, The Worthy Master Pierre Patalin. It happened that Mistress Tyzes Sofia (called Zsof) was also staging the same play at another college that fall. This lead to the first time I worked with Zsof as she helped with guidance and costumes. This production helped bring me back into the world of theatre which I had been mostly absent from for several years. While researching plays for the Medieval Society to perform that fall and in following years, I came across commedia dell'arte; the descriptions in text did little to impress me but I decided to attend a class on commedia taught by THL Sophia the Orange at Pennsic in 2004. This class, plus a course on improvisational comedy by Baron Master Midair mac Cormaic and a course on masked street performing by Lady Judith the Uncertain, would soon change my entire life, and not just inside the Society.
Just one week after that Pennsic I started an independent study in commedia during my final year at CWRU which lead to my first written scenario and performance that spring. It may have stopped there had Zsof not proposed doing a commedia dell'arte play at a demo for the March of Alderford in summer 2005. I volunteered with much eagerness (having forgotten I didn't consider myself a stage actor yet) and Zsof encouraged me to help teach (as I had acquired much knowledge of the art and history) and play the popular fool Arlecchino. This short play, which I would later call The Letter "L", helped to fuel a spark.
The following spring, the Italian Carnevale event at CWRU invited me back to perform another commedia play. With limited stock and limited time, I choose to do an expanded adaptation of The Letter "L". This production galvanized several of us and within weeks we decided to create a new commedia dell'arte troupe which would become known as The Confused Greenies (or i Verdi Confusi in the Society), a part of Players' Patchwork Theatre Company.
By this point I was hooked and things would only get more active from there. Watching commedia productions and working with experienced actors at Pennsic as well as reading texts, I began to teach people back home about playing in commedia. At the time, my principle Mask was the fool Arlecchino and I developed him somewhat independently of my peers, playing him as more childlike and "cute". I was heavily inspired by the style of il Capitano as played by Lord Kameshima (formerly known as Cadell) of i Genesii and taught this version to our troupe. Several of our early Capitanos were from the Barony, including Lord Abel Frölicher, Martha Sicking, and Sergei the Jester. Each brought something new to Capitano and when I started to play that Mask more in 2010 on, I incorporated their wonderful elements.
During A Good Husband is Well Red, Abel's boisterous Spaniard improvised some of our most popular lazzi, including "Grip-Thrust-Parry" and improving upon "Walk-Like-a-Man". Abel also introduced the name "Capitano Rico Machismo Suavé" and subsequent lazzo. Abel's heavily accented interpretation of the City of Venice as "Venus" has stuck and been so much fun i Verdi Confusi now sets most of our plays in Venice. Martha made famous the "Inconvenient" line and the name "Capitano Chiquita Juanita Chihuahua the Third". Sergei created the great Capitano lazzi of "Four-and-a-Half Handed Sword", "Being Spanish", and "Bad Day". The troupe, and especially myself, have since utilized all these gags into our portrayal of Capitano, including occasionally combining all of the ridiculous names!
When I started to play Capitano more, others took up the motley of Arlecchino, including Lucia Carelli, Lady Alienor de Saint Remi, Greg Tongue, and Lord James Barkley. The Ladies especially took my slightly cute Arlecchino and turned the fool into incredibly adorable and lovable, almost a plushie that's been called "Cuddlecchino" by members of the troupe. As that Arlecchino, while being different from other troupe's, has become a fan favorite, when I do play Arlecchino I try to incorporate as much of that cuteness as I can - though I still pale compared to the Ladies!
And while Zsof's busy schedule has made it difficult for her to play with us lately, she has continued to be supportive and offer ideas. Several years ago, she suggested the concept which became Iron Commedia (named by Alienor). i Verdi Confusi has run this workshop on commedia dell'arte where we welcome all interested players regardless of experience and then craft, cast, rehearse, and perform a brand new Sixteenth Century play in only a matter of hours. We've successfully put into practice Zsof's idea at a Bardic Madness, two RUMs, and even Pennsic while holding mini-workshops to write new plays at other events. Last fall we had a wonderful time creating Buckets of Ducats. Alienor and I were the only members of i Verdi Confusi in attendance but we had five newcomers, including two youth, most of whom had no prior knowledge of commedia and yet in just three hours we produced and staged a wonderful little play.
This troupe, commedia dell'arte, and our devised / improvisational art that sprang from it, have become my passion and my dream in my life both in and outside the Society. I'd have not found this path had I not been brought into the SCA, inspired by classes at Pennsic, and assisted by several dozen members of the Society. And to that I am now and always will be an incredibly grateful zany fool in patchwork!
in foolish service,
-- Niccolò
Capocomico Morosofo [Head Comic/Artistic Director]
Players' Patchwork Theatre Company: i Verdi Confusi / The Confused Greenies
And some photographs from the performance! (I might have to check the auto-focus on my camera...)
Of course, there are many, many more people who have my thanks. This essay was focused on those members of the Barony of the Cleftlands but if you want a more (if not complete) list of people I thank, each and every person on this page would be a good start. ;)
For this performance of Buckets of Ducats, thank you to Alienor, James, Rebecca (I'll remember your new SCA soon!), and Steve who came all the way up from Columbus to perform with us after being wonderful during our Iron Commedia workshop at Pennsic. And thanks to Their Excellencies for the opportunity and to Çinara for the photography and all the people at last fall's Iron Commedia for coming up with this amazing play - including Meg, Gabriel, Alexander, Randy, and Rose!
The moment they spoke these conditions, I felt compelled to enter. Not because I believed I would win (though if I had I would have served the Cleftlands to the best of my ability), but because I know so much of my art in commedia dell'arte (both inside and outside the SCA) is heavily helped and inspired by numerous others, including many in the Barony. I felt obligated to represent my art and honor both those who lead me down this path and the Cleftlands by competing. And as such we presented before Their Excellencies and others Buckets of Ducats, a wonderful short farce created during the Iron Commedia workshop we held last fall.
I also submitted my "documentation", an essay about who inspired by. Because I wish to sing their praise, I want to publish this here as well.
Inspirations in Commedia dell'Arte by members of the Barony of the Cleftlands
When I first joined the Barony of the Cleftlands, it was by the kindness of Mistress Milesent Vibert and Lady Lyonette Vibert. And while I quickly became enamored of the Society, I didn't realize yet what path it would take my life in just a few years.
In fall of 2003, the Case Western Reserve University Medieval Society (the re-start of a student club I had earlier helped found with encouragement from the Cleftlands) decided to perform a Period play, The Worthy Master Pierre Patalin. It happened that Mistress Tyzes Sofia (called Zsof) was also staging the same play at another college that fall. This lead to the first time I worked with Zsof as she helped with guidance and costumes. This production helped bring me back into the world of theatre which I had been mostly absent from for several years. While researching plays for the Medieval Society to perform that fall and in following years, I came across commedia dell'arte; the descriptions in text did little to impress me but I decided to attend a class on commedia taught by THL Sophia the Orange at Pennsic in 2004. This class, plus a course on improvisational comedy by Baron Master Midair mac Cormaic and a course on masked street performing by Lady Judith the Uncertain, would soon change my entire life, and not just inside the Society.
Just one week after that Pennsic I started an independent study in commedia during my final year at CWRU which lead to my first written scenario and performance that spring. It may have stopped there had Zsof not proposed doing a commedia dell'arte play at a demo for the March of Alderford in summer 2005. I volunteered with much eagerness (having forgotten I didn't consider myself a stage actor yet) and Zsof encouraged me to help teach (as I had acquired much knowledge of the art and history) and play the popular fool Arlecchino. This short play, which I would later call The Letter "L", helped to fuel a spark.
The following spring, the Italian Carnevale event at CWRU invited me back to perform another commedia play. With limited stock and limited time, I choose to do an expanded adaptation of The Letter "L". This production galvanized several of us and within weeks we decided to create a new commedia dell'arte troupe which would become known as The Confused Greenies (or i Verdi Confusi in the Society), a part of Players' Patchwork Theatre Company.
By this point I was hooked and things would only get more active from there. Watching commedia productions and working with experienced actors at Pennsic as well as reading texts, I began to teach people back home about playing in commedia. At the time, my principle Mask was the fool Arlecchino and I developed him somewhat independently of my peers, playing him as more childlike and "cute". I was heavily inspired by the style of il Capitano as played by Lord Kameshima (formerly known as Cadell) of i Genesii and taught this version to our troupe. Several of our early Capitanos were from the Barony, including Lord Abel Frölicher, Martha Sicking, and Sergei the Jester. Each brought something new to Capitano and when I started to play that Mask more in 2010 on, I incorporated their wonderful elements.
During A Good Husband is Well Red, Abel's boisterous Spaniard improvised some of our most popular lazzi, including "Grip-Thrust-Parry" and improving upon "Walk-Like-a-Man". Abel also introduced the name "Capitano Rico Machismo Suavé" and subsequent lazzo. Abel's heavily accented interpretation of the City of Venice as "Venus" has stuck and been so much fun i Verdi Confusi now sets most of our plays in Venice. Martha made famous the "Inconvenient" line and the name "Capitano Chiquita Juanita Chihuahua the Third". Sergei created the great Capitano lazzi of "Four-and-a-Half Handed Sword", "Being Spanish", and "Bad Day". The troupe, and especially myself, have since utilized all these gags into our portrayal of Capitano, including occasionally combining all of the ridiculous names!
When I started to play Capitano more, others took up the motley of Arlecchino, including Lucia Carelli, Lady Alienor de Saint Remi, Greg Tongue, and Lord James Barkley. The Ladies especially took my slightly cute Arlecchino and turned the fool into incredibly adorable and lovable, almost a plushie that's been called "Cuddlecchino" by members of the troupe. As that Arlecchino, while being different from other troupe's, has become a fan favorite, when I do play Arlecchino I try to incorporate as much of that cuteness as I can - though I still pale compared to the Ladies!
And while Zsof's busy schedule has made it difficult for her to play with us lately, she has continued to be supportive and offer ideas. Several years ago, she suggested the concept which became Iron Commedia (named by Alienor). i Verdi Confusi has run this workshop on commedia dell'arte where we welcome all interested players regardless of experience and then craft, cast, rehearse, and perform a brand new Sixteenth Century play in only a matter of hours. We've successfully put into practice Zsof's idea at a Bardic Madness, two RUMs, and even Pennsic while holding mini-workshops to write new plays at other events. Last fall we had a wonderful time creating Buckets of Ducats. Alienor and I were the only members of i Verdi Confusi in attendance but we had five newcomers, including two youth, most of whom had no prior knowledge of commedia and yet in just three hours we produced and staged a wonderful little play.
This troupe, commedia dell'arte, and our devised / improvisational art that sprang from it, have become my passion and my dream in my life both in and outside the Society. I'd have not found this path had I not been brought into the SCA, inspired by classes at Pennsic, and assisted by several dozen members of the Society. And to that I am now and always will be an incredibly grateful zany fool in patchwork!
in foolish service,
-- Niccolò
Capocomico Morosofo [Head Comic/Artistic Director]
Players' Patchwork Theatre Company: i Verdi Confusi / The Confused Greenies
And some photographs from the performance! (I might have to check the auto-focus on my camera...)
Of course, there are many, many more people who have my thanks. This essay was focused on those members of the Barony of the Cleftlands but if you want a more (if not complete) list of people I thank, each and every person on this page would be a good start. ;)
For this performance of Buckets of Ducats, thank you to Alienor, James, Rebecca (I'll remember your new SCA soon!), and Steve who came all the way up from Columbus to perform with us after being wonderful during our Iron Commedia workshop at Pennsic. And thanks to Their Excellencies for the opportunity and to Çinara for the photography and all the people at last fall's Iron Commedia for coming up with this amazing play - including Meg, Gabriel, Alexander, Randy, and Rose!