Commedia Dell'Arte Masks

Commedia Dell' Arte | Character Masks

These are the Character masks used in both the Introductory Workshop and Development Workshop

Arlecchino is a shape shifting servant to Pantalone, Il Capitano or Il Dottore. A crafty low status character, Arlecchino tries to trick his patrons out of money, but usually fails. He is very quick, acrobatic and limber. He's not as intelligent as Brighella but not as stupid as the Zannis. Arlecchino hatches schemes incessantly, but for all his work, they rarely work out. He complicates the plot by making a mistake in his orders and causes a communication breakdown. He is the worst messenger imaginable, getting distracted and changing plans during his delivery.

Brighella is the boss of Zanni and Arlecchino. Usually a proprietor of a shop, he is never wealthy but is better off than the others. Brighella is good at and pretends to be many things. He can be a servant, magician, and fortune teller -- most anything that is asked of him. He is never a victim, so his status, albeit low, is always secure. Brighella is a very cynical and sarcastic character. For the audience, he is witty, humorous and deceitful. He will do anything to turn a quick buck, even if it requires him selling his sister. He is a cunning liar on occasion bursting out in angry rants when something doesn't go his way. This is a volatile character!

IL Capitano (The Captain) is a bragadocious, arrogant, egocentric man feigning machismo. Behind this thick façade of manliness and courage, he is, in fact, a timid coward afraid of most everything. He probably is not a Captain in an army, but because he moves around from city to city, he is able to pretend he has higher status than he really should. Il Capitano is feared by the towns people only because he puts on a convincing (albeit absurd) show of intimidation. He must always fall at the end of every Canovacci (Plot). Events always unfold to show his blind cowardice.

Il Dottore is high in the commedia social hierarchy along with Pantalone. Il Dottore is a doctor, although it is questionable whether he has ever attended school. Nevertheless, Il Dottore maintains his high position in society because he can make it seem as though he knows what he is talking about. He blathers on in mumbles and stutters. The lower class characters are awed by his "knowledge" and so he maintains his status. Like all the old men however, he is always shown up as a quack at the end of the play.

Pantalone is rich and miserly so holds the highest social status in the commedia hierarchy. He always has servants working for him. Pantalone is deathly afraid of losing his money which, in turn, would cause him to lose his place in society. Just like Il Capitano and Il Dottore, Pantalone is set up to fall or made to look like a fool. He is taken advantage of and ends up without his money or swindled out of most of it. His servants (Brighella, Arlecchino, Zanni or all three) are usually the ones that set him up for his fall.