Commedia Dell Arte Masks Zanni

In later times we also have a primo and secondo zanni that in a certain way replicate that situation the smart.

Commedia dell arte masks zanni.

We ve been talking about harlequin and identified him as a zanni character but who is zanni. In the drottningholm theatre museum stockholm. The zanni comes from the countryside and is known to be a dispossessed immigrant worker. Zanni zani or zane is a character type of commedia dell arte best known as an astute servant and a trickster.

The zanni can be recognized with good approximation as the matrix on which other masks were created. Zanni is a character type of commedia dell arte best known as an astute servant and trickster. Through time the zanni grew to be a popular figure who was first seen in commediaas early as the 14th century. Zanni masks the name zanni is roughly equivalent to the english term joe schmoe a real nobody.

He s the forefather of both harlequin and brighella and may explain why some demoniac features are associated with these masks. Zanni harlequin left and probably scapin right with pantaloon centre detail from the gelosi company 1580. Zanni was a character of the comic theater of the ancient rome later became mask of the commedia dell arte. The zanni comes from the countryside and is known to be a dispossessed immigrant worker note 1 through time the zanni grew to be a popular figure who was first seen in commedia as early as the 14th century.

He represents the figure of the servant with coarse and instinctual ways of doing often related to sex and hunger. Harlequin for instance had especially in his first years so much of the zanni character that was almost a reflection of it. Courtesy of the drottningholms teatermuseum stockholm. They communicate to the audience the nature of the actor.

Here we go again another servant s mask of the commedia dell arte. In the early days of commedia dell arte the zanni mask used in the theatre was a full face mask with a long nose. Dei zanni the zanni was a generic term for the commedia dell arte itself. They express the performer s character social class and attitude.

Some of the zannis shown are taken from traditional commedia characters others invented by newman or borrowed from contemporary maskers the character stupino created by gina bastone. The english word zany derives from this persona.