Message for the Commedia dell'Arte Day 2016

[Each year a person associated with the tradition of Commedia dell'Arte is invited to write a special message in honor of Commedia dell'Arte.  The message is translated and read at events around the world as well as published in newspapers and presented on radio and TV.]

MESSAGE FROM A COMMEDIA ACTOR TO A COMMEDIA ACTOR IN THE NAME OF THE ARTE

dedication by Antonio Fava

        Greetings to all the Commedia actors: Professional Theatrical Actors par excellence. We are approaching five centuries of continuous activity of the Arte, of the Improvvisa, Italiana, Zannesca, Mercenaria. And so on. Mutio, and his Commedia troupe, were already active in Europe in 1538. For this reason, the year 1538 is not a beginning, but a continuation. In short, I date the genesis of the Professional Theatre at the beginning of the XVI century, in the 1530s. We are nearing the big celebration of half a millennium of activity.
        A warm half a millennium of continuing greetings to all Professionals of the Arte. Profession and Professionalism are implicit in the word Arte of the expression Commedia dell’Arte. In this phrase, Commedia means Theatre, since in the XVI century the word ‘theatre’ had many different meanings. The word Commedia indicates precisely the activity of an actor in front of an audience. This activity is Arte, that is, profession, a paid job. As a consequence, this activity had to be organized. In 1530 that idea was completely new, never heard and never seen before. Therefore, a system had to be devised to determine who could buy the product after it had been invented.
        Professionalism could not have existed without the professional conditions that the artists wanted, invented and popularized. It was necessary to go to a lord, to a ruler (later, even to kings and queens) to have an audience, to be paid, to have the best possible conditions --- in order to be the best possible actors. Hence, the first theatre-houses were born. The ‘street’ has never been a vocation. It was, especially at the beginning, a way to make do, when there was nothing better. The Commedia literally invented the venue of the theatre-house. It is there that the Professional Commedia flourishes.
        Comedies, Dramas, Pastoral Dramas, Boscherecce, Marinaresche, Piscatorie, Heroic Plays, Tragedies, are plays with three, four or five acts; with scenery, costumes, props, stage effects of every kind, very complex machines, and between twelve to twenty or even twenty four Professionals, all of them leading actors.  Actors are extremely skilled in playing their own characters, which they will perform throughout their professional lives.
        The comedy, the shortest production within the genre, usually lasted no less than three hours. In addition to that, during intermission, there were spectacular intrusions that kept the attention of an audience that was still young and inexperienced.
        Therefore Commedia dell’Arte comprises a “productive system composed of different forms and genres of theatrical performance and the technical and economic organization of all of this.” All of this happened in the streets? Come on…
        The most ancient expression that signifies “to act” professionally or “acting” or “it’s showtime” comes from the language used by the Arte. It is an Italian phrase, “andare in stanza” (‘to go in the room”) or “in stanzone” (in the big room). That is, it refers to an indoor place.
        Theatre. Always Theatre. Strongly Theatre. Theatre as Arte. As Profession. As Place. As Organization. Profound Passion. Indispensable form of approach to life. The deeply passionate, avid theatre-going public see us like that --- and it is like that that they want to see us.
        What happens today? In Albion, in the name of the Bard, everything that is theatre, forstyles, eras, authors, forms, traditions, languages and origins,is supported, promoted, sponsored and the audience is always present. Actually, it abounds. The English and all the subjects of Her Majesty the Queen are the ones who do better than everybody else, in the public system as well as in the private system.
       The transalpine Cousins, in the name of Molière, do pretty well ---- but not great.
       The trans-Pyrenean Cousins, in the name of Lope, do something.
       And the cousins of the cousins, the Italian? The most universal, because “they created a profession and they taught it to the world.” What do they do? They were the first, now they are the last. However, history can’t be erased. The historical merits are there and they are excellent and abundant. Be proud of that. Careful, though: HIGH STANDARD OF PROFESSIONALISM. Not boastfulness. Be rightfully proud, but with a good, better yet, excellent preparation and high standards of professionalism, showing your skills, deserving to be proud of them.
       People shouldn’t make copies of plagiarism of clones with the excuse of the “common discipline.” As in all disciplines, people have to assert their own artistic personality and originality.
       People shouldn’t perform as if they were the clowns who say whatever comes to mind.
       People shouldn’t feed the culture of reproduction, of things done all in the same way, of the caricature, of the easy game and of the commonplace. Nor should people dothe weirdos, the eccentrics, the monsters, the elves, the devils, the aliens.
       The poetic of the Arte comes from the harsh reality. The form is spectacular. The ensemble, the structure of the Commedia is dramaturgy. You go on the stage highly trained. Not a flaw.
       When we say Commedia dell’Arte, we are committed to respect its history, the documented one, and its tradition, the documented one. Only after that we are free to be creative. Only after the most solid and in depth preparation. It is not possible to reinvent History. You can’t do “chello ca passa p’a capa” (everything that comes into your mind) and say, “This is Commedia dell’Arte.”
       To give a simple example, what today is just a superstition (Italian actors would never wear purple on stage) has origins that are much more concrete and meaningful: purple is the color of the episcopal dignity. The bishops used to belords and had political power over a given territory,and they did not always leave the Commedia troupes in peace. They vexed them, they kept them from going on stage, forcing them to leave town. Not always, but it could happen. That was enough for the Commedia troupes to fear their authority and to loathe them. The Commedia troupes responded with a symbolical act against the vexation perpetrated by the bishops-sheriffs: the elimination, the eviction of the symbol of the episcopal authority (the purple color) from the professional scenes. This response was in its own way proud and brave: You, on this stage, can’t come. Evicted. Out.
       Today, the story of the purple color (often confused with mauve) has been reduced to sheer superstition. Many things of the Commedia are undergoingasimilarmetamorphosis. For example, the idealization (simplification) of the ‘strada” (street), the ‘unique and absolute character, ‘the improvisation as ultimate goal’ … poor Arte, poor Profession, it was never any of that. But the neo romanticismthat dominates a certain way of doing comedy today seems to want to dominate and determine the future of the Zannesca or Mercenaria or Improvvisa or Italiana, in other words, of the Arte. Let’s adjust the aim, colleagues.
       In regard to the date: February 25th, 1545. By this date the Zannesca already had at least ten years of activity; maybe more. That date has now become ‘mythical’ because it is considered the first certain date, the date of the birth of the Improvvisa. However, it is not like that, because it is certain, more than certain, the activity of the capocomico Mutio in 1538. And everything began before that year. So? I am not passionate about the trend of the “International Day of This and That” where the abundance of one day is followed by the silence for the rest of the year. Every day throughout the year and every year is, for us, Commedia actors, Commedia Day.
       I would like to wish ‘in bocca al lupo’ (‘in the mouth of the wolf’ – expression that for its meaning corresponds to the English ‘break a leg’) in its original meaning. This expression comes from the hunting world. Wishing that the wolf eats you is a necessary wish. In fact, we hunters, irreducible and superstitious, want to wish the opposite of what we want, because, being superstitious, we know that the opposite of what we wish will actually happen.  In a dark world infested by wolves, we need to wish to be devouredby wolves if we want to make sure that that does not happen. This expression, and the superstition connected to it, moved from the world of the hunters to the world of the professional Theatre. You wish a fiasco so that you can have success. The answer ‘crepi’ (die (the wolf)) and other variations, to ‘in bocca al lupo’ are later additions, from which, once again, it is possible to deduce that the original meaning has been lost. To say nothing of the explanation circulating these days, of mama wolf who tenderly takes the little wolf in her mouth, and so on and so forth.
       Because of the current trends, this is also going to be the fate of the GreatCommedia that risks to be reduced to little commedia, thrown into that street from which it freed itself.
       To conclude, dear Friends and Colleagues, the most beautiful, simple, musical, friendly, joyous word in the Italian language, so brief and so efficient, that literally means ‘schiavo’ (slave), is Ciao.  Friends and Colleagues in Arte, to all of you, Ciao and In bocca al lupo!
AF