Prologue


The Commedia is About to Begin

"…we grow aware that these (the characters of the Commedia) beauties of the past are asleep and beyond our reach, awaiting a new Molière or else some Charlie Chaplin of the Latin race to reawaken them."

- Pierre Louis Ducharte, The Italian Comedy

Legendary Masks

Forgive my sleeping compatriots, they are simple men and quite tired. I trust you not to step on the Captains sabre, he gets terribly upset when that happens. Yes, they look almost dead, don't they? Like marionettes with their strings cut. They are not human you know. Think of them as vessels, templates, archetypes, masks, roles. Characters. Perhaps you recognize a few of them. This lively jester in red and green? The Harlequin Arlechino de Sprufadella. You've seen him on playing cards, on chocolate packages, beer cans and in massive neon above the Nevada Desert. He never actually wore that stupid pointy jesters hat, he's been mixed up with all sorts of unsavoury characters over the years. All of them have. But they are still out there among you, in your masked rock-bands, your TV-sitcoms and comic books - even in your computer games. But they are only shadows.

Once they were alive. Men and women dedicated their lives to them. They became one of these characters, adopting it as an alter ego on the stage and often off it as well. They were superstars in a time of plague, war and unimaginable beauty. From the middle of the sixteenth to the middle of the eighteenth century the Italian Comedies had Europe roaring with laughter. From it's roots in antiquity it grew into a form all of its own. A simple stage, a handful of players, no script save a few hasty lines on a parchment and some simple props. That was all that was needed. And of course the Masks - the characters. In the beginning there were only a couple of them but as the Commedia grew in popularity a whole family, a pantheon if you like, of unlikely individuals took to the tiles. The university city of Bologna gave us the stern Doctor and from the upper hills of Bergamo came the most popular of all the roles - wicked Arlechino. They came from Italy, but now they belong to legend.

First Person Actor

You may not know it, but you have come here to reawaken them - to master a lost art. A game? Yes. Have I said anything else? It is very different from your real time strategies, your first person shooters and has nothing to do with your sorry excuses for role-playing. If there are shooters, fighters, sims, dancers and racers then this is an actor. A first person actor. Even though the character you play is visible on the screen you must learn to see the world through its eyes, talk as it would talk, move as it would move.

Fear not. I will show you the ropes. The rules are simple because there are none. Your role, its objectives, a stage and a scenario is all you get. No more than we had. The tale on stage will unfold as you act it out, improvising lines and lazzi (the trade term we use for slapstick stunts) as you go along. If you have played a true role-playing game you know what I'm talking about, if you haven't you still know how to do it. Everyone plays roles, at least when they are children.

Ultimately it is you and your friends from all over the globe that must discover the art of Commedia. Find your very own style and make it yours. Where our tales were marry, yours may be sad. Take care of the characters, respect their feelings and unique personalities. In time you may meld with one of them like the actors of old and gain the wit of a Harlequin or the grace of a Isabelle.

Gently rouse them from their centuries of sleep, the stage beckons - a renaissance awaits.

"The Italian comedians learn nothing by heart; they need but to glance at the subject of a play a moment or two before going upon the stage. It is this very ability to play at a moment's notice which makes a good Italian actor so difficult to replace. Anyone can learn a part and recite it on the stage, but something else is required for Italian comedy. For a good Italian actor is a man of infinite resources, a man who plays more from imagination than from memory; he matches his words and actions perfectly with those of his colleague on the stage that he enters instantly into whatever acting and movements are required of him in such a manner as to give the impression that all they do has been prearranged."

The Setting - Fair Vendora

We make our stage Vendora, fairest of all Italian city-states in this our illuminated late 16th century. We are but a stone throw from the Vatican, most holy seat of the magnificent Pope Urban. Fear not, for here in Vendora we are quite insulated from the Papal States rampant morality, as our play will clearly show.

At this time a hundred wars plague Tuscany and also the lands to the south. Hired Condottieri - cruel commanders of ruthless mercenaries - ravage the countryside, well paid by local Princes, Dukes, Marquises, Chamberlains and other dignitaries of impeccable character. This concerns us only little, for in Vendora it is peacetime and her flowers are in bloom.

Merchants, alchemists, falconers, free-masons and miracle workers form all corners of the Holy Roman Empire gather to the court of enlightened Sartorius, the Golden Duke. Alas, with these paragons of civilization - like rats in the ballast of proud galleys - come ruffians, romantics, raconteurs, rapists and assorted rascals. The night-time streets and crooked byways are their homes.

Sartorius first chancellor Pantalon is renowned, and thus mentioned here, for two reasons. First he has wasted his family's fortune in foolish buissness and is thus very poor. A secundi his daughter Isabella is the most beautiful and educated lady in Vendora. She is available for marriage for the fourth time after a series of unfortunate events that has left her a triple widow. This is a subject much talked about in the wine-stalls of the bustling San Niccollo market.

Our painted stage shows one of the opulent gardens of Vendora, or perhaps a park. Or forest. Or any other wooded area within a mile of the ducal palace. Here we find our cast; the servant Harlequin, the military Captain Cocorillo and noble Isabelle de Pantalone.

Rouse the actors from their drunken stupor, for it is time for them to don their rags. Slap powder onto their faces and bleed them a pint for good measure while the crowd is gathering. Grease the ropes and silence the donkeys - the Commedia is about to begin.