Wednesday, November 18, 1998
‘Isabella’ morphs ancient Italian theatrical art for modern
viewers
PLAY: Actors incorporate masks, improv, acrobats to show
tradition’s beauty
By Erin Beatty
Daily Bruin Contributor
It’s the same old classic story: boy meets girl, boy falls in
love with girl, girl betrothed to old man, and someone misplaces
the fish with the contract stuffed inside and the chicken stuffed
with a settlement.
So goes the story of the upcoming "Triumph of Isabella," a UCLA
performance by the students of the Master of Fine Arts Training
Program at the School of Theater, Film and Television opening in
the Little Theater tonight. The production, an original piece
adapted and directed by John Achorn, will be performed in the
classic tradition of Italian commedia dell’Arte.
This Italian theater form predominated theater in the 16th
through the 18th centuries. Using mime, acrobatics, humor and
masks, the performance tries to web dialogue with action, creating
a complete sensory experience.
"Ultimately, the audience is the other member of the cast, and
we incorporate the audience by breaking the wall between the
audience and cast," says John Achorn.
Here lies the most difficult task in modern commedia dell’Arte:
using masks and actions to create an entertainment quite foreign to
the modern viewer.
Commedia dell’Arte is an art form in constant metamorphosis. Its
vibrant performance has helped shape, establish and develop modern
theater throughout the ages.
"Commedia was created in the early 1500s, and to me it pretty
well establishes modern theater," Achorn explains. "It was the
cradle of modern theater, especially modern comedy."
The theater type relies on various stock characters taken from
many parts of Italy, who interact with one another under constantly
changing circumstances.
Among these characters is Pantalone, an old, greedy miser;
Arlecchino, a street-smart peasant who, over time, evolves into the
devilish lover; Colombina, the female counterpart of Arlecchino,
and many more.
Though the plot of each separate performance changes, the main
characters consistently remain the same, maintaining and developing
their own personal qualities.
"Always (the character’s) circumstances are changing, sometimes
they may be somebody’s father or daughter, and in the next play
they would be marrying one another," Achorn explains.
This movement and constant adaption is a critical quality of
commedia dell’Arte. Each play differs, adapted for the various
actors performing in it. Yet, each actor contributes to the
character he or she performs, bringing in his or her own
adaptations and interpretations.
Rather than a script, commedia uses a format called a scenario,
which is a plot within which the actors must create their own
lines.
Roxanne Meyers, who plays Colombina in the play, explains.
"John would ask us to bring in our own material based on our
character, so that’s how the play came together," Meyers says.
Developing and learning the characters was one of the most
difficult aspects of the play, say actors. Aside from the physical
demands of the acrobatics, contorting their bodies in foreign ways,
the hardest part was learning to act with a mask.
Scott Clark, a third-year graduate student who plays
Arlecchinno, claims that modern expression is somehow inhibited by
costume constrictions.
"For me, a lot of the challenge was just getting used to the
mask … it’s different communicating with a mask on your face,"
Clark says. "There is an entire physical life that is really
foreign to what we normally do."
Communicating with the body and adapting an ancient art form to
a modern crowd was one of the most difficult tasks in "The Triumph
of Isabella."
Yet these are the characteristics that develop the beauty of
commedia dell’Arte, an art form that is constantly adapting while
miraculously maintaining traditional techniques and characters.
THEATER: "The Triumph of Isabella" runs Nov. 18 to Nov. 22 at 8
p.m. with matinees at 2 p.m. on Nov. 21 and Nov. 22. All
performances are in the Little Theater at Macgowan Hall with ticket
prices ranging from $6 to $12. For more information, call (310)
825-2101.
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