Creating a Touring Commedia dell arte production

Interview with Tony Kishawi By Debbie Wall
Creating a Touring Commedia dell arte production for high schools
Cafe Floriani

Q1. For most students and teachers, Cafe Floriani will be their First experience of a full-length Commedia dell arte production.  What can they expect?

Firstly a very enjoyable production, approximately 50 minutes duration.  A good introduction to drama in general for any year level.  Expect: audience interaction, loud belly laughs from the audience, simple clowning, moments of poetry, classical music and physical gags that will take you back in time, to a time when you say to your self, so this is why people study and perform Commedia dell' Arte. It was a theatre style that lasted over 200 years.  It is not only theatre history, it is the human expression in any culture from any time.  The need to perform, to satirise events. To make sense of the personalities in our communities and the daily events that makeup our lives.


Q2. How has the script for Cafe Floriani been developed? How much room for improvisation and audience interaction will there be?

We have worked the script with any audience in mind, not just a high school production.  I have found that students respond well to productions that have been produced for a general adult audience. This why I believe Cafe Floriani has been so successful to date. Also it is very hard to rehearse Commedia in an empty rehearsal space. We find opportunities to go out side the normal rehearsal space organising 'Rehearsal Performances'. This is not just before an opening night, but during the rehearsal process.  A Commedia del arte script can not be written solely in the studio, you must try out the short Lazzis, scenes, and rehearse with a live audience. We find that some parts of the script will become irrelevant and/or redundant and other small skits, bits of business, during interactions with audience, become important parts.  We then go back to the rehearsals and the performers now know how the play will unfold with a live audience and the the actors learn the ‘improvisation in performance’ process.


Q3. Cafe Floriani is being reworked from an In-theatre adult production to a touring show for schools.  What changes are you planning to make?

Yes, Mr Affogato was a Commedia del arte in-theatre adult production, a production that grew from a real event that happened in Canberra at the start of 1998. Two coffee shops, one downstairs and the other on top at street level.  The top shop, at the street level said ‘The coffee shop down stairs plays music that is too loud’. So they closed them down. The story got around and the newspapers said 'The top shop unfairly closed down the other because it used an irrelevant council by-law from 1898'.   Unfortunately for the top shop, the down stairs coffee shop was a meeting place for artists, musicians and other types that decided not to let anyone get away with such bullying business tactics.  So Commedia del arte was a good outlet for the inner city communities feelings toward this event.  Mr Affogato performed at the Street Theatre venue and it ran for three weeks. When creating the school touring show I felt that we couldn't just repeat this performance outside of the community in which it was created.  So the idea of business competition, price wars, and advertising tricks have become our subjects.  So the name, for the school touring production came from one of the oldest real cafes in Italy Cafe Floriani and we started to re-work the script from scratch.


Q4. As director, what did you look for in casting actors for Cafe Floriani?

Because of economics of school touring, keeping everyone fed and paid we could only have a small cast of three, I had to look for actors that had performing experience with a live audience and a willingness to work physically. The actors had to be fit enough to sustain a mask character for the full length of Commedia del arte production.  Because we had only three actors, it meant that I was looking for a balance of skills.  They all had to play two masks, one high status mask and one low status mask each. Above all, a willingness to want to work together, enjoy improvisation, because Commedia del arte needs good ensemble work.


Q5. What will the rehearsal period involve?

We have allocated 5 weeks to rewrite and rediscover the characters using the same masks from ‘Mr Affogato’. Because of the nature of the masks I believe that new actors will put their own personalities into the masks. The ‘spirit of the mask’ is what we use as a starting point, when you put on a mask you look in the mirror, you look at the eyes of the mask, they are not your eyes any more, what do you see? The masks know intuitively what to do, where to go and create new improvisations and of course create new performance material.
The first two weeks consisted of training, traditional walks, stance, acrobatics, open improvisations and also singing practice and we find who is playing which mask characters.
The third week was spent putting the short skits together.  
The fourth week - rehearsal performances; and the last week, preview performances.  The scenario was complete, but still open for change depending on the audiences and the different 'audience reactions' that the actors have.


Q6. Will the characters be close to the traditional Commedia characters or will they have been adapted/modernised for Cafe Floriani?

I find that this art form is timeless, when someone puts on a Commedia del arte mask they take character ideas from the history books and the face value of the mask the ‘spirit of the mask’. You don’t make a decision whether you will modernise or not.  Because we live in this century the masks will be transported forward in time to discover what lies in front of them i.e. A lone Zanni, a servant from the 16th century would have fun if a skit was created where they discover a mobile phone (in the audience), it beeps, then they start to talk to a short tempered Telstra Operator or talk to someone's recorded answer message. The audience would understand the situation all to well. All I can say is that you can play it many different ways.


Q7. Which modern TV programs and/or Films and their characters have been influenced by Commedia del arte?

I think the sitcom writers use styles from all different sources but the TV shows that could fit into the Commedia del arte are:
The Nanny: the Nanny herself would be a Columbia, living in a high society household, Pantalone, Mr Sheffield is the (nice) master of the house, the children could represent the lovers (played with no masks and only concerned with daily matters like a boy friend at school or study etc.) Niles could be a Petrofina and La Donna is played by the blond Ce Ce.
Seinfield: you could say that Kramer is a Zanni but just because he acts zany doesn't mean that it’s Commedia del arte.  The one thing that makes Seinfield like Commedia del arte is it’s scenarios.  Plots within plots and even subplots that cross paths and plans that always backfire on the initiator/s.
The Simpsons: Cartoons always look like Commedia del arte style, the masks are large charactatures of the types of people in our communities of old and of course the Simpsons represent large charactatures of people from our era.  Homer and Bart could be Zannis; Marg - Columbia; Mr Burns - Pantalone etc...


Q8.  What makes good Commedia dell' arte?

Ultimately only time will make a good Commedia performer and performance.  Even though an actor will only study Commedia del arte as a small part of their overall actor training. I believe that only a built up rapport of interacting with an audience and other actors over many performances will make good Commedia del arte performers and good Commedia del arte.