
That
Emperor's
Foo
L
A musical about nothing
Commedia
dell'Arte
An Italian
comedy tradition
Ideas & videos on acting style for companies considering this new musical.

“That Emperor’s Fool” is a modern book musical, but we intend it to have an unusual quality: the characters, the costumes, the makeup — and the acting style — are to be quite exaggerated, in keeping with our story's farcical plot.
A possible model is Commedia dell'Arte or "improvised comedy," the first secular form of theatre in Europe, which originated in Renaissance Italy and remained popular in Europe for centuries.
Commedia is perhap too exaggerated for this musical. A few examples of Commedia acting style are not to be copied, but may help suggest an acting style for "That Emperor's Fool," as director and actors may decide.
A bit of history Performed by traveling troupes of actors including the first women on stage, Commedia featured over-the-top characters, exaggerated acting styles, and farcical plot outlines to which the actors improvised. Each actor specialized in one role, a stock character with unique expression, gesture, and acting style, and sometimes became famous for their role. All the traditional Commedia characters, except the lovers, wore unique character masks. We suggest very stylized makeup instead of masks, to keep this musical accessible to modern audiences.
Commedia's influence has lasted through the centuries in plays, operas, film, and even today’s television sitcoms. Carlo Goldoni’s “A Servant of Two Masters,” was written in 1745 and often still performed, was based on Commedia.
Recent world tour The best recent Commedia production was Carlo Gozzi’s “The King Stag,” written in 1762 and performed by Harvard University’s American Repertory Theatre (ART) in 2000. The show went on to tour worldwide as “one of the best loved and most successful of ART productions.” Julie Taymor, who did the Commedia-style costumes, masks, and puppetry for this production, was subsequently chosen to direct Walt Disney’s stage version of “The Lion King,” which included striking aspects of Commedia and won Taymor a Tony award for best director.
Images of Commedia
Several images (immediately below) show Commedia dell’Arte as it appeared centuries ago, along with some videos (further below) reproducing the acting style. The images and videos are not to be followed slavishly, but to inspire and give a unique flare of Commedia to this musical. All of Commedia's characters, except the lovers, had grotesque masks unique to each character. To keep this musical contemporary, however, stylized makeup should replace masks.
Troupes of Commedia actors traveled from town to town, set up their stage of boards and backdrop, and performed. From which comes the theatrical expression "tread the boards."

Typical Commedia masks indicate how exaggerated the characters were. To keep our musical accessible to contemporary audiences, stylized makeup should be used
instead of masks.

Three Commedia characters, including the fool at right.

More Commedia stock characters. Actors specialized in one character and fashioned the unique costume, mask, and acting style for their character.

Acting style in Commedia dell'Arte
Below is a written description of Commedia followed by videos on its acting style.
YOU MAY SKIM THROUGH THE VIDEOS.
A written explanation of how Commedia works in practice. Click link.
Video of traditional Commedia acting style by uncostumed modern students. Time 9:21
Historical overview of Commedia Time: 2:19
Emotion in Commedia Time 3:35
Short Commedia sketches by modern actors Time 20:07
directed by Italian Commedia expert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ak5yjC07Rs
Imagine the courtship duet of Espi and Professor Kunkel, who pantomime with the invisible "cloth" in Act 1, when you watch the lovers in the video below, starting at 0:33
More Commedia sketches by modern actors Time 22:13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFpGX4ts3HA&pbjreload=10