Week 1 Lesson 1 Resources

The World of Commedia

Commedia A Historical Overview

A short film giving an overview of the history of Commedia dell'Arte. In this film Didi Hopkins from commediaworks describes the influence of commedia dell'arte on modern theatre and other dramatic formats such as film and television.

Commedia Dell'Arte - Emotion

This film looks at ways of physicalising the primary emotions: joy, grief, fear, anger, surprise, love, laughter and how to use this in a performance rather than 'acting'. 

Commedia Dell'Arte - Language

Commedia companies toured outside of Italy, to France and Spain, and so Gromalot evolved, a nonsensical babble speak that carried the truthful emotional intention of a character. This language meant that audiences were able to understand the action on the stage and enabled commedia dell'arte to become an international type of theatre.

Commedia Dell'Arte - Character Shape

Each Commedia character has a specific physical shape and way of moving. This film was made over a two day workshop with a group of young actors and lead by Didi Hopkins.