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Character Analysis
| Character Name |
Isabella
Isabella Andreini -Rudlin |
| Status | Prima donna, Inamorata. Usually Pantalone’s daughter. -Rudlin |
| Costume |
The latest fashion, usually showed off wardrobe, wigs. -Rudlin
Wore stunning silk dresses, often in antique Renaissance style with necklaces of gold and pearls. - Gordon Gentry-class dress, nice looking, modest, cute. Usually with a heart motif -Little |
| Origin (History)
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First appearing in the 16th century, she was a well educated girl,
she was accepted and loved by all classes in many countries. The
city of Lyons went into mourning when she died during giving birth.
-Rudlin
The most prominent Isabella, Isabella Andreini, belonged to the troupe of Gelosi. - Laver |
| Physical Appearance | Young and attractive – Rudlin |
| Mask |
None
No physical mask, but heavy makeup and character is played as though there were a mask. -Rudlin Occasionally wore a mask that just covered eyes or a loop mask. - Laver |
| Signature Props |
Handkerchief, fan, book -Rudlin |
| Stance
|
Lack firm contact with the earth. Feet invariably in ballet
positions, creating an inverted cone. Chest and heart heavy.
They are full of breath, but then take little pants on top.
Sometimes when situations become too much for them, they deflate
totally. – Rudlin
Always very proud. |
| Walk |
Swishy. -Little
A teeter. -Rudlin |
Poses
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1.) Leaning to one side with one leg pointed outwards, and
hands in praying position touching cheek as if sleeping.
2.) Back of hand on a forehead tilted back as if in agony. 3.) Chin resting on hands laying on top of each other or fingers interlocked and the head slightly tilted. 4.) Hip is usually cocked to one side, feet always in ballet positions. 5.) Leaning forward with hands locked behind back stretching arms. 6.) The "Oh No" pose, hands open with one arm outstretched, the other closer to the face as if fending off an enemy. |
| Movements | Exaggerated movements of the hands, like feathers flapping in the
wind. -Fletcher
Lovers have minimum or no physical contact. -Rudlin |
| Gestures | Often manipulating hankie, flower…frequently looks in hand mirror. Any imperfection can spell disaster. - Rudlin |
| Speech | Refined, lacking pretentiousness never lost for the correct phrase. -Rudlin |
| Animal | Pink Flamingo -Fletcher
Love Bird -Little |
| Relationships | The lovers are in love with themselves being in love. They love
each other, but are more preoccupied with being seen as lovers. They often
feign mild hatred. – Rudlin
Usually the daughter of Pantalone. |
| Relationship to Audience |
Extremely aware of being watched. Play with the audience for sympathy in their plight. Occasionally flirts with spectators. -Rudlin |
| Frequent Plot Function |
Unlike most inamoratas, she initiates solutions on her own account. -Rudlin |
| Characteristics
|
Flirtatious, headstrong, dramatic intensity, feigned madness due to
passionate love common. Can be prudish. -Rudlin
Hot and cold, prone to mood swings: a tease. -Little Cultivated, spoke Latin, was a poet and often educated at a University. - Duchartre Beautiful and chaste young woman with an independent will. Highly cultivated. - Gordon Three, like primary colors: fidelity, jealously and fickleness. They are vain, petuluant, spoilt, full of doubt and have very little patience. They have a masochistic enjoyment of enforced seperation because it enables them to dramatize their situation, lament, moan, send messages, etc. When the Lovers do meet they are almost always tongue-tied and need interpreters (i.e. a zanni and/or a servetta) who proceed to misinterpret their statements, either through stupidity (Zanni), malicious desire for revenge (Brighella) or calculated self-interest (Columbina). Their attention span is short like young children’s. The fear that they might be nobodies keeps them hyper-animated. Their element is water: they are very wet creatures indeed. The females are more passion-wrought and energetic than their male counterparts. The lovers exist very much in their own world- and in their own world within that world. Self-obsessed and very selfish, they are more interested in what they are saying themselves and how it sounds than in what the beloved is saying. They are primarily in love with themselves, secondarily in love with love, and only consequentially in love with the beloved. What they learn, if anything, from the tribulations of the scenario is the need to reverse these priorities. They do, however, come off better than most other Commedia characters: there is no viciousness in them, and less to be reproached for – except vanity and vapidness, which, given their parents, they can hardly be blamed for. They represent the human portential for happiness. – Rudlin If then true lovers have ever been crossed |
| Lazzi
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1.) Lets out a very exciting coo as she jumps up and down in
place. 2.) Losing temper and screaming and shouting until she gets her way. 3.) Tap Dancing 4.) A long dramatic sigh 5.) Rolling eyes in disgust or disbelief. 6.) Dramatic mood swings. 7.) Feigning innocence and/or shock whenever caught or in an embarrassing situation or confronted with a very direct male lover. 8.) Likes to go temporarily insane. 9.) Kicks the ground when upset. |
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Commedia dell'Arte: An Actor's Handbook by John Rudlin. Routledge 1994 Commedia dell'arte: A Scene-Study Book by Bari Rolfe. Personabooks 1977 The Commedia dell'Arte by Winifred Smith, New York, 1912 The Italian Comedy by Pierre Louis Ducharte. Dover Publications, inc. 1966 Lazzi: The Comic Routines of the Commedia dell'Arte by Mel Gordon. Performing Arts Journal Publications 1983 Harlequin On The Moon by Lynne Lawner. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1998 Scenarios of the Commedia dell'Arte: Flaminio Scala's Il Teatro Delle Favole Rappresentative translated by Henry F. Salerno Limelight Editions 1996 All other comments have come from growth and experience of the performers of Commedia dell'Carte |
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