Commedia dell’arte from the finest exponents of the art form

Picollo Teatro Di Milano offers a rare opportunity to experience the enchanting world of commedia dell’arte delivered by a company that includes several of the world’s finest living exponents of this influential tradition.

In New Zealand, commedia dell’arte has been an inspiration for many of our most significant theatre groups – perhaps most notably in the underground cabaret of Red Mole, in which a bizarre menagerie of masked characters arose out of Alan Brunton’s profound engagement with the satirical roots of this ancient art form. [More]
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Centre stage of the Aotea Centre’s ASB Theatre stands a tall curtain rail, with a smaller raised stage in front upon which the story is acted out.  Around the stage are chairs and stools and one or two instruments, and down stage a row of candle footlights.  The ancient prompter (Stefano Guizzi) painstakingly lights them one by one whilst greeting us with a friendly ‘kia-ora’, thereby initiating the many laughs to follow.

Having had only a little education in Commedia dell’Arte, I am privileged now to have seen my first full scale, 3-act, two-interval production of this 1745 masterpiece of Carlo Goldoni. This great Italian literary figure reshaped the artform in the 18th century, to produce more complex, narrative-driven stories than the earlier, simple character-oriented tales which began in the 1500s. 

Some more interesting numbers:  The history of the Piccolo Teatro Di Milano (Little Theatre of Milan) dates back to the postwar 40s, and this very production has been in the company repertoire over 60 years, since 1947.  Heroic lead Ferrucio Soleri, who turns 80 this year, has played the title character ‘Arlecchino’ [a.k.a. Harlequin] well over 2000 times for more than fifty years. 

Soleri’s level of physical energy and coordination puts most folk half his age to shame.  If anything, he appears to be setting the pace for the wholly younger supporting cast to keep up with.  There’s little or no evidence of the actor’s age when he’s in the mask, and when it’s removed at the curtain call (an event in itself!), the rapturous applause is accompanied with gasps of awe and respect.

Including Arlecchino, only four of the five servant characters based on the original improvisational characters are in mask: Brighella (Enrico Bonavera) the scheming innkeeper – who seems the most complex, with equal measures of selfishness and altruism – and the fathers of the main young lovers, Pantalone the greedy rich merchant (Giorgio Bongiovanni) and the pompous academic Dottor Lombardi (Tommaso Minniti).  Bongiovanni received special accolades on opening night as it marked his 1000th turn in the role.

Said lovers Clarice and Silvio are played in comical style by Annamarie Rossano and Stefano Onofri, eschewing the typical blandness of romantic leads in other traditional formats. Perhaps the closest to a straight character in an ensemble where there really aren’t any is Clarice’s servant Smeraldina, the confident voice of reason and ultimately the love interest for Arlecchino. 

Two more lovers, Beatrice (Giorgia Senesi) and Florindo (Sergio Leone [sic]) represent the two masters in the title, both unaware that they have the same servant and that they are in fact each other’s true love for whom they are searching.  Their predicament is further complicated by the fact that Beatrice is disguised as her dead brother Federigo, valiantly murdered by Florindo for disapproving of his union with Beatrice, as per the honourable morality of a different time and place to our own.

The excellent band revels throughout the three-hour extravaganza with the playfully boisterous music of composer Fiorenzo Carpi, and receives the second largest applause after Ferruccio Soleri.

The most obvious drawback for many locals such as myself is having precious little comprehension of the language.  Large English overhead titles are generously provided above the proscenium arch, but given the rapid fire verbosity of all the players it is clear the written lines are heavily abbreviated; at times not even supplied.  Yet for all the extra wit I wasn’t privy to, the show is nevertheless thoroughly entertaining. 

The entire troupe is masterfully skilled in what is on the face of it a fairly simplistic, slapstick theatre form – undoubtedly a classic case of ‘making it look easy’.  One needs to take a step back to notice just how intricate and complex the layers are, what with the slapstick acrobatics, bawdy gags, occasional English phrases, jocular songs, mistaken identities, double takes and in-jokes et cetera. 

It all flows remarkably together, along with all the intriguing onstage-backstage shenanigans between the wings and the set platform, so it’s often hard to know where’s the best place to look on stage, let alone the titles.  

There is an overwhelming sense as the audience exits that we’ve experienced something richly historic and extraordinary.  It was good to note a wide cross-section of age groups in the crowd, all smiles proving that these timeless themes and recognisably human caricatures will speak to any generation in virtually any culture.  
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For more production details, click on the title above. Go to Home page to see other Reviews, recent Comments and Forum postings (under Chat Back), and News

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer