Amid all this heavy lifting of my research notes, I re-read my essay, "A Chorus of Clowns and Masked Comic Theater" " written for Realms of Fantasy on the history of clowns, from antiquity to the Marx Brothers. It's funny, and I enjoyed re-reading it as it provides a comprehensive view of the different […]
Interlude in the Research: Call in the Clowns, Satyrs, Fools, and Nymphs. Read More »
Lately, I have been re-reading Rudolph M. Bell's How To Do It, Guides to Good Living for Renaissance Italians — a terrific social history of how Italians viewed their lives from the 15th to the 17th century. Italians were fairly literate then (the publishing industry was booming). There was a proliferation of self-help and advice
How To Do It In the Renaissance Read More »
Commedia dell'Arte troupes crisscrossing the country to perform are often at the mercy of events they cannot control, like difficult audience members and lousy weather. Amid rain and misery, the kindness of an unexpected patron in a small village becomes a welcomed gift. Food, wine, and local stories fuel the actors' imaginations. The
From The Innamorati: The Libertini Create New Work in the Midst of Feasting Read More »
"Let us amuse ourselves today, You will never guess my name, and I won't ask you to try. I am a mad spirit or goblin. I come from the other world, and one of those spirits, Actus or Plautus orders me to tell you that a comedy will be played this evening."
Angelo Beolco, Playwright and Actor 1502-1542 Read More »
One of the most instructive texts on the Commedia dell’ Arte that I read while researching The Innamorati was John Rudlin’s classic Commedia dell’ Arte: An Actor’s Handbook. It is a wonderful combination of history, explanation of the different stock characters and their individual personalities, mask work, and performance technique for Commedia. It has been argued
Research Notes: John Rudlin and Commedia’s Masks III. Read More »
This is a complicated moment in the novel when several threads come together, all for the purpose of resolving Anna’s terrifying possession. Having accepted the maenad’s mask, and now in its spell, Anna throws herself into the bloody revels of the maenads following Bacchus. Two men with separate interests in Anna have been searching for
Excerpt from The Innamorati: Anna’s Return Read More »
"The mask is a terrible, mysterious instrument. It has always given me and continues to give me a feeling of fear. With the mask we are on the threshold of a theatrical mystery whose demons reappear with static, immutable faces, which are the very roots of theater." — Giorgio Strehler. (Un Theatre Pour la Vie,
The Mask is a Terrible, Mysterious Instrument Read More »
Keith Johnstone’s Impro is a terrific book for actors looking for methods to feel at home and never without words on the stage. Johnstone’s emphasis is to understand and utilize improvisation effectively. The book is full of wonderful exercises and activities that do indeed have the ability to unlock spontaneous, creative speech to instigate, develop, and
Research Notes: Trance States in Mask Work II Read More »
Anna's personal journey into the maze has to do with her belief that her anger at lost love incited her miscarriage. Within her own body she "feels" the curse like the twisting of thorns which keeps her in constant pain and makes it impossible for her to create the masks she loves. She believes, as
Excerpt from The Innamorati: Anna Surrenders Read More »
When creating the characters of the masks in The Innamorati (and they are a lively bunch) I was profoundly influenced by both the traditions of the Commedia Dell 'Arte but also by Keith Johnstone's' brilliant work Impro, on improvisation for actors and the power of the mask to influence the actor through a form of
Research Notes: Masks and Trance I Read More »
