July 26 → 27, 2025
PHILADELPHIA, USA

in collaboration with
PIG IRON SCHOOL

THE SPIRIT OF COMMEDIA DELL’ARTE

An Introduction to Italian Comedy
and the theatre of HALF-MASKS

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The Genealogical Tree of Commedia dell’Arte

Commedia dell’Arte, also known as Italian Comedy,  is a milestone in the history of theatre. Historically, Commedia saw its glorious days between the 16th and 18th century, throughout Europe. A multitude of companies traveled performing shows (canovacci) based on improvisation, stock characters (types) with and without masks and a unique talent of physical performing, integrating text, pantomime, acrobatic, music, singing, in the rigorous folly of improvisation. Characters like Pantalone, Arlecchino, Zanni, Colombina, Il Capitano, the Lovers (Innamorati) and Pulcinella became heroes throughout Europe, and their theatre had profound influences on the coming generation of actors and playwrights. From Molière to Shakespeare, from melodrama to puppet theatre, from French pantomime to contemporary physical theatre, Commedia is at the roots of an actor-based creative theatre making.

After the second half of the 18th century, Commedia as a genre disappeared from theatres, replaced by a new wave of dramatic authors and script-based acting, including such styles as romantic theatre, melodrama, bourgeois drama, and naturalism. Commedia kept living in popular theatre and puppets (marionette e burattini), until the late 1800’s and early 1900’s when a new interest arose, led by a generation of theatre artists and researchers, attracted by the necessity of putting the actor and his theatrical body at the forefront of theatre. Among them was Jacques Copeau and Suzanne Bing who led the foundation of a lineage that includes Jean-Louis Barrault, Jean Dasté, Jacques Lecoq, and one of his earliest assistant, Carlo Mazzone-Clementi, who in the early 1960’s introduced Commedia dell’Arte in the United States.
The collaboration between Jacques Lecoq and the Italian sculpture Amleto Sartori, in Padova, led to the rebirth of the mask-making process and to the beginning of the return of half masks to modern theatre.

Thanks to the work of these masters and their students, Commedia is now universally recognized as a milestone in the training of physical actors.

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The Power of Masks in the training of the Physical Performer

Masks belong to the world of archetypes and have been present in the history of humanity for a very long time. Essential elements of ancient theatre, they were the glorious protagonists in the Golden Age of Commedia dell’Arte in 16th and 17th century. Today, they represent a key step in the training of the physical actor-creator.

Through covering the facial expressions of the actor, the mask allows them to go to the roots of their presence in space. Gestures are amplified and transposed, and everything is brought back to the body, thus giving the actor a complete new sense of space, presence and dramatic expression. The voice has to be masked too, in order to match the level of playing of the mask.

In the pedagogy of Jacques Lecoq, Commedia dell’arte holds a crucial position, informing the whole vision of devising theatre through improvisation, starting from very strong physically based characters, transposed by the masks into types.  His pedagogy of Commedia evolves on two tracks: Analysis of Movement and Improvisation.  This combination gives students the physical awareness and the skills to explore the world of masks on stage. Mask play (le jeu masqué) combines strong emotional awareness and a powerful body alertness, with a rigorous technique of articulation of the body into dramatic attitudes.

Half masks introduce the actor to a precise physical definition of a character. They are very defined forms in which the main dynamic of the a type appears, as well as its opposite aspects, the so called counter-mask. In Commedia, the actor reaches a very high level of play, revealing the depth of human archetypes. These masks play in a world of survival, where passions, urgencies and human behaviour are pushed to a permanent extreme. Half masks have a specific tragic depth and can bring the actor to a profound level of poetic transposition, where laughter and crying are intertwined.

Improvisation skills, and a kind of play based on the constant unfolding of a comic theme, train the actor both to enjoy very physical and rhythmical play and to develop a sense of playwriting and dramatic crescendo.
This incredibly vital style teaches the actor to truly experience what improvisation means, and how theatre can represent the wonderful madness of human beings, in a jubilation of rigorous fun.

The Spirit of Commedia is a celebration of the true art of the performer: deeply embodied characters playing all’improvviso in the virtuous development of comic themes (lazzi) makes Commedia an amazing training ground for contemporary physical comedy.

THE program OF THE WORKSHOP

The training will offer an introduction to the traditional types of Commedia dell’Arte as well as an exploration of their contemporary manifestations.
Classes include:

• The Body in the Theatrical Space: Movement Analysis and Movement Technique.
• The dramatic urgencies of Commedia dell’Arte: animal states, human passions, emotional drives and social roles.
• The play of the half- mask: from the dynamic of the mask to the dramatic drives of the types.
• The body of the type: traditional and contemporary types.
• Voice Technique: the voice of the half-mask.
• Improvisation and the spirit “lazzi
• Rhythmical virtuosity and “botta e risposta”.

During this training participants will use Commedia dell’Arte Leather Masks by Stefano Perocco di Meduna

PRACTICALITIES

ADMISSION
This workshop is for theatre practitioners with previous experiences in movement-based theatre.

LOCATION
Pig Iron School, 1417 N 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA 19122, United States

SCHEDULE
Classes will take place each day from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, with one hour lunch break.

TUITION: $ 300

To apply to the workshop, please visit this page in Pig Iron School website.
In your application please share the essence of your story, vision, dream, desire, fear or inexplicable intuition that leads you to this workshop. Please include in your application your experience with movement-based theatre and in particular with Commedia.

The class will be confirmed as soon as it reaches 8 participants. Once 16 participants will be confirmed, the workshop is full and a waiting list will be created.
If you intend to participate, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible!

APPLICATION DEADLINE : July 15th, 2025
 

Before the beginning of the workshop the participants will receive a message outlining all practical details about the workshop.

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For further information about the content of the workshop
please contact Giovanni Fusetti at

For enrollment and practical enquiries please contact Pig Iron School

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PHOTO CREDITS
(1) Helikos School, 2013
(2) I balli di Sfessania, Jacques Callot, 1623
(3) Maschere di Capitani, Stefano Perocco di Meduna
(4) Kiklos School 2001
(5) Pedagogic Training HELIKOS 2019, Masks by David Poznanter
(6) Dell’Arte School, California, 2006