Lazzi: The Comic Routines of the Commedia dell'Arte

This text contains about a dozen lists of numbered lazzi (jokes/gag routines used in commedia performances) that gives a great impression of the kinds of humor, creative acting techniques, and general mayhem presented in commedia.The lazzi lists are followed by two scenarios revolving around the zanni character, Pulcinella: "Pulcinella, The False Prince" and "Pulcinella, Physician by Force." Each presents different themes: the first satirizes court culture, with Pulcinella transformed magically into a prince and immediately wreaking havoc on the city and especially on his enemies; the second is a typical commedia plot with two pairs of lovers whose plans for marriage are frustrated by their uncaring, greedy fathers--and of course, it's up to Pulcinella (the "physician") and his gang of servant friends to save the day.This is a great text, but most likely not for casual readers; this will be great material to work from for theater and literature courses however. It takes patience and imagination to bring the Pulcinella scenarios to life, as they don't contain lines of specific dialogue, but rather present summaries of each scene along with suggestions for occasional lines, gestures, and gags (from the lazzi lists in the front of the book).The scenario are followed by a list of characters typically found in commedia dell'arte troupes.I use the book in teaching a university class on global comedy, partly because it nicely illustrates the evolution of comic forms from earlier Greek and Roman antecedents through more modern forms in theater, film/TV, and literature.For a complete study of commedia, it would need to be supplemented with a study of masks and costumes and a few more visual elements (ideally videos that can often be found online) of commedia troupes in performance.

very helpful

It's alright. That is all. Just alright. I'm also not a big literature fanatic.

I decided to give it a 5 because it was a good price for a book in good condition, came on time

Terrific!

A nice edition to the shelves of any Theatre Director/Educator who wants to explore Commedia onstage.

Expecting a book on technique, I was hugely dissapointed! Turns out the book is merely a collection of brief, general descriptions of lazzi. The Commedia character overviews also included in the book were, for my purposes, useless. The book contributes nothing new to the world of Commedia Dell'Arte. What I do find of value are the two Commedia scripts included in the book. Save your money, there are other books worth their weight in gold on the subject of Commedia Dell'Arte

For teaching this book is the best in historical research.

This fantastic little handbook collects together over 250 comic routines which are useful not only for commedia dell'arte performers, but for any physical theatre students, directors or actors as it outlines absolutely classic scenarios. The characters may seem outdated, but the humour and liveliness from these routines still permeates our pantomime, physical theatre and even sitcoms today.

This is for a community’s theatr project

This book shows no understanding of Commedia