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Lazzi
basic definition:
Lazzi (/ˈlɑːtsi/; from the Italian lazzo, a joke or witticism) are stock comedic routines that are traditionally associated with Commedia dell'arte. Performers had many of these "silly scenes" or "bits" in their repertoire, and would use improvisatory skills to weave them into the plot of dozens of different commedia scenarios.[1] These largely physical sequences could be improvised or preplanned within the performance, and were often used to enliven the audience if a scene was dragging. [2]
Lazzi can be performed by a few of the actors, but it often included the participation of the entire troupe. Traditionally, an actor would instigate the lazzi at a planned moment or when the audiences needed re-energizing, by saying a line of dialogue that indicated to the other members of the troupe that bit had begun. These bits would be rehearsed by the troupe, and passed down through generations. The improvisational element of lazy often refers to how the actor would weave his or her lazzi into the scenario that was being played out. For example, the Lazzi of Nighttime could occur within the blah blah scenario or the blah blah scenario, because it was used to make the audience laugh and to perform an actors special lazzi that an audience may have attended the show to see, not to further the plot.
What is known about lazzi has been derived from fragmented writings, visual iconography, and paintings. There is no inclusive compilation in existence. However, one list written by Adriana di Lucca accounts a single troupes repertoire of lazzi, and is held at the library in Perugia. There is, however, a variety of paintings and visual iconography that often depict reenactments of what would be considered perverse physical acts, (i.e. a doctor administering an enema as seen in the supplementary visual aid). It has been proposed that troupes were discouraged from documenting lazzi to evade censorship by authorities, as well as keep the lazzi from being imitated by a competing troupe. It has also been proposed that there was no need to write it down because of the imbred nature of the troupes existence and training.
How to we know what we know:
The library of Perugia holds the only existing substantial list of a single troupe's lazzi. Additional sources include scarce written documentation comprised mostly of actors notes and short performance descriptions. Visual iconography, including various paining and drawings of commedia performances, suggest that 16th and 17th century lazzi was often perverse in nature, thus making troupes at risk of censorship by legal authorities. Protecting material from authorities may have attributed to the lack of written documentation. [2] Other theories suggest that due to its improvised nature, and the inbred constituency of that period's troupe, it was not necessary for lazzi to be written and it was passed down through rehearsal.[3]
There are only a few existing written accounts of lazzi. This may be attributed to protecting the material from censorship by authorities, as it was often obscene or perverse in nature. Also, because lazzi was often developed and passed down within a troupe, which were quite imbred in the 16th and 17th centuries, there may not have been a real need to write down the material, especially if they didn't want their material stolen by there troupes. One account still in existence is from a manuscript at the library in Perugia.
| Contents |
|---|
| 1. 16th and 17th Century Lazzi
2. Lazzi in Shakespeare 2. Charlie Chaplin and Modern Lazzi |
References
- ^ Boyd, Timothy W. (2011). "Memory on Canvas: Commedia dell'Arte as a Model for Homeric Performance". Project Muse. 26. Oral Tradition.
{{cite journal}}: no-break space character in|title=at position 18 (help) - ^ a b Garfein, Herschel; Gordon, Mel; Turci, Gennaro (1978-01-01). "The Adriani Lazzi of the Commedia Dell'Arte". The Drama Review: TDR. 22 (1): 3–12. doi:10.2307/1145163.
- ^ Selfridge-Field, Eleanor (2004). "La Commedia dell'Arte in Naples: A Bilingual Edition of the 176 Casamarciano Scenarios/La commedia dell'arte a Napoli: edizione bilingue dei 176 scenari Casamarciano (review)". Project Muse. 85. Music and Letters: 436–437.
Works Cited
Richards and Richards 1990
Kenneth Richards and Laura Richards. The Commedia dell’Arte: A Documentary History. Oxford: Blackwell.
Boyd, T. W. "Memory on Canvas: Commedia dell’Arte as a Model for Homeric Performance." Oral Tradition 26.2 (2011). Project MUSE. Web. 26 Sep. 2016. <https://muse.jhu.edu/>.
Chaffee, Judith, and Olly Crick. The Routledge Companion to Commedia Dell'Arte. Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2015. Print. Routledge Companions.
Garfein, Herschel, Gordon Mel, and Turci Gennaro. "The Adriani Lazzi of the Commedia Dell'Arte." The Drama Review: TDR 22.1 (1978): 3-12. Web.
Gordon, Mel. Lazzi: The Comic Routines of the Commedia Dell'arte. 1st ed. New York: Performing Arts Journal Publications, 1983. Print.
Leon, M. "Molière on Stage: What's So Funny? by Robert W. Goldsby (review)." Comparative Drama 47.2 (2013): 254-256. Project MUSE. Web. 26 Sep. 2016. <https://muse.jhu.edu/>
Madden, David. "Harlequin's Stick, Charlie's Cane." Film Quarterly 22.1 (1968): 10-26. Web.
Reardon, Joan. ""Caesar and Cleopatra" and the Commedia Dell' Arte." The Shaw Review 14.3 (1971): 120-36. Web.
Selfridge-Field, E. "La Commedia dell'Arte in Naples: A Bilingual Edition of the 176 Casamarciano Scenarios/La commedia dell'arte a Napoli: edizione bilingue dei 176 scenari Casamarciano (review)." Music and Letters 85.3 (2004): 436-437. Project MUSE. Web. 26 Sep. 2016. <https://muse.jhu.edu/>.
Smith, Winifred. The Commedia Dell'arte. a Study in Italian Popular Comedy. New York: Columbia UP, 1912. Print.
Steele, Eugene. "Verbal Lazzi in Shakespeare's Plays." Italica 53.2 (1976): 214-22. Web.
Weitz, Eric. The Cambridge Introduction to Comedy. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2009. Print.
