As much as I enjoyed the Commedia performance at the wedding festivities of Ferdinando de Medici, I have to confess that it wasn't quite what I expected. I had hoped for something, shall we say, more rumbustious? Which is why we jumped four years forward, and north to the city of Milan where we have another opportunity to see the Fedeli troupe in action in a romantic comedy on a grassy space behind the Ospedal Maggiore.
As the Prologue explains, this is a story about mistaken identity, true love, and how Heaven watches over poor foolish mortals. But what I'm here for, more than the scripted story, is the improvisation between the actors.
To cut to the chase (and yes, there was one of those, involving Il Capitano, Arlecchino, Isabella and a dog with a string of sausages) the story could be loosely summarized as follows:
Il Capitano, a blowhard and cowardly soldier, who has managed to avoid any actual fighting through various ruses, but struts as if he is a seasoned veteran, has taken a shine to Isabella, the daughter of the wealthy merchant Pantalone. While agreeing terms for a marriage contract with the assistance of Il Dottore, poor Arlecchino, the manservant of Pantalone overhears some of the details being discussed and immediately jumps to the conclusion that Il Capitano intends to marry Colombina, Pantalone's maidservant, for whom he bears an unrequited (and thus far unexpressed) passion.
By the end of the play Arlecchino and Colombina express their love for each other, Il Capitano is called upon to defend his honor (using every dodge and maneuver he can find to get out of harm's way when it turns out that the sword in his impressive scabbard is wooden!), and Il Dottore narrowly escapes being exposed as a trickster who failed to graduate and has subsequently lived on his wits and partial learning. The adults in the audience have enjoyed the twists and turns of the improvisations, and the children have laughed at the comic business, but the catch of the day as far as I am concerned, is the bonus of being able to obtain a copy of the tarantella with which the cast opened the performance:
As the Prologue explains, this is a story about mistaken identity, true love, and how Heaven watches over poor foolish mortals. But what I'm here for, more than the scripted story, is the improvisation between the actors.
Il Capitano, a blowhard and cowardly soldier, who has managed to avoid any actual fighting through various ruses, but struts as if he is a seasoned veteran, has taken a shine to Isabella, the daughter of the wealthy merchant Pantalone. While agreeing terms for a marriage contract with the assistance of Il Dottore, poor Arlecchino, the manservant of Pantalone overhears some of the details being discussed and immediately jumps to the conclusion that Il Capitano intends to marry Colombina, Pantalone's maidservant, for whom he bears an unrequited (and thus far unexpressed) passion.
By the end of the play Arlecchino and Colombina express their love for each other, Il Capitano is called upon to defend his honor (using every dodge and maneuver he can find to get out of harm's way when it turns out that the sword in his impressive scabbard is wooden!), and Il Dottore narrowly escapes being exposed as a trickster who failed to graduate and has subsequently lived on his wits and partial learning. The adults in the audience have enjoyed the twists and turns of the improvisations, and the children have laughed at the comic business, but the catch of the day as far as I am concerned, is the bonus of being able to obtain a copy of the tarantella with which the cast opened the performance:
If I look like someone who has just seen a ghost, it may be because I have. Or else poor Kit Marlowe who was killed in an unfortunate brawl just a couple of months ago at the end of May, has a doppelganger here in Milan!
Reference
The image of Pantalone above comes from this page on masks.
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