Commedia dell'Arte [antikvár]

Commedia dell'Arte A companion to John Rudlin's best-selling Commedia dell'Arte: An Actor's Handbook, this book covers both the history and professional practice of commedia dell'arte companies from 1568 to the present day. Indispensable for both the beginner and the professional, it contains historical and contemporary company case histories, details on company organisation, and tips on practical stagecraft. It enables the reader to understand how successful commedia dell'arte companies function, and how we can learn from past and current practice to create a lively and dynamic form of theatre. The many practical resources on offer include tips on: writing a scenario • mask making building a stage • designing a touring backdrop • costume • music and much, much more. John Rudlin is a freelance theatre director, playwright and author. His books include Jacques Copeau (1986), Copeau: Texts on Theatre (1990), and Commedia dell'Arte: An Actor's Handbook (1994), Oily Crick is a drama lecturer at Hereford College of Art and Design. He has performed Commedia dell'Arte with 'Unfortunati' and is an associate of The Mask Studio and Centre Selavy. Preface This book is intended as a companion to my Commedia dell'Arte, an Actor's Handbook. The intention of that book was to help 'give commedia dell'arte back to the actor in the hope that it may again provide one of the base languages of a theatrical lingua franca.' It was also founded on a personal conviction that 'if there is to be a regeneration of the theatrical medium in the next century, it must come via the re-empowering of the performer rather than the continued hegemony of the playwright and director.' We are now into that century, and the signs are encouraging: sufficient young, and some not so young, performers have been (literally) acting on the advice given in that book to tempt the publishers into allowing the indulgence of a sequel. This new volume was inspired by a review of the first one in Theatre Research International (Vol. 20, no. 2, p. 165) which chastised me for not going far enough, wanting to know more about the interaction of the Masks, not just their individual actions: The vital interest of the commedia lies in the rhythms of each mask and in its rhythmical relationship to others. These rhythms have repercussions for the use of the playing space and help create interesting and meaningful choreography on stage. . Rudlin offers this book as an introduction to the individual and group study of commedia. It is to be hoped the main course arrives soon. For my part I hope that appetite has not been dulled during the seven subsequent years of culinary preparation. There has been much research and experimentation necessary in order to respond to the reviewer's demand. This work has been undertaken mainly at Centre Selavy in rural France, where up to three workshops have been run annually for the past seven years with a teaching staff comprising Amanda Speed, Oily Crick and myself. Collaborating with Oily has been particularly valuable since he comes from the Carlo Boso school of training, which I perhaps undervalued in An Actor's Handbook. He also trained and performed with Barry Grantham in England