Lazzi

Lazzi (/ˈlɑːtsi/; from the Italian lazzo, a joke or witticism) are stock comedic routines that are traditionally associated with Commedia dell'arte. Performers, especially those playing the masked Arlecchino, had many of these "bits" in their repertoire, and would use improvisatory skills to weave them into the plot of dozens of different commedia scenarios.[1][2] These largely physical sequences could be improvised or preplanned within the performance and were often used to enliven the audience when a scene was dragging, to cover a dropped line or cue, or to delight an expectant audience with the troupe's specialized lazzi.[3][4]

Lazzi could be completed by a single player (i.e. the Lazzo of the School of Humanity wherein a Zanni character would announce that his sister was running a “school of humanity” from their home because she was a prostitute) a few individuals (i.e. the Lazzo of the Straw wherein a stock character of higher status would pour wine as his servant emptied it through a straw) or the entire troupe (i.e. the Lazzo of Nightfall wherein the entire troupe would stumble onto stage to enact hapless physical sequences as though the room was pitch black).[3][5] While its placement in the plot was usually fixed during rehearsals, it was acceptable for an actor to unexpectedly utter a predetermined line of dialogue that instructed fellow performers to enact lazzi at any time during the performance.

History

16th and 17th Century Lazzi

While no comprehensive compilation of 16th and 17th century lazzi exists from that era, what is known about it has been derived from the fragmented writings and personal manuscripts of prominent dramatists and actors, visual iconography, and paintings. Some of the earliest evidence of lazzi's conventionalization was found in the writings of Italian actor and writer Flaminio Scala, though he did not yet use the term “lazzi.”[6]

Nearly a century later, Andrea Perrucci's The Art of The Rehearsed Performance and Improvisation depicted various sequences of lazzi, and referred to them as fixtures within the structure of commedia. His writings also contain one of the few extant lists of lazzi from that era. Another document written by Adriana di Lucca recounts a single troupe’s repertoire of lazzi, and is held at the Library in Perugia.[3] Most recently, Mel Gordon compiled a comprehensive collection of lazzi from 1550 to 1750 that categorizes lazzi by the recurring subject matters of the bits.

The visual iconography from the 16th and 17th century depicting lazzi often included what would have been considered vulgar physical acts (i.e. a doctor administering an enema as seen in the image), though few written accounts described such content. There are several explanations for this omission, as well as the marked lack of overall written documentation.[3]

It has been proposed that the marked lack documented lazzi may be, in part, an attempt evade rising censorship by authorities, especially in the case of Parisian Commedia Italienne under the rule of Louis XIV, who threatened troupes with the revocation of royal subsidies should their material be deemed subversive.[7] In some cases, his censorship resulted in a troupes expulsion from the country. Others theorize that lazzi often went undocumented so that it could not be imitated by competing troupes, as routines could not be patented.[3] Also, it has been suggested that because the oral and physical nature of the training, as well as the inbred legacy of performers within the troupe, there was less of a need to have written explanations of lazzi.[8]

Two Commedia dell'arte Performers Using a Clyster

References

  1. ↑ Boyd, Timothy W. (2012-08-01). "Memory on Canvas: Commedia dell'Arte as a Model for Homeric Performance". Oral Tradition. 26 (2). doi:10.1353/ort.2011.0025. ISSN 1542-4308.
  2. ↑ Smith, Winifred (1912). The Commedia Dell'arte: A Study in Italian Popular Comedy. Columbia University Press. pp. 5–10. ISBN 9780742643543.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 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.
  4. ↑ Smith, Winifred (1912). The Commedia Dell'arte: A Study in Italian Popular Comedy. The Columbia University Press. pp. 5–10.
  5. ↑ Gordon, Mel (1983). Lazzi: The Comic Routines of the Commedia Dell'arte. Performing Arts Journal Publications. ISBN 9780933826694.
  6. ↑ Scala, Flaminio (2008). Andrews, Richard, ed. The Commedia Dell'Arte of Flaminio Scala: A Translation and Analysis of 30 Scenarios. Translated by Andrews, Richard. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
  7. ↑ Zarilli, Phillip B.; McConchie, Bruce; Sorgenfrei, Carol Fisher (2010). Williams, Gary Jay, ed. Theatre Histories: An Introduction (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 9780415227278.
  8. ↑ 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)". Music and Letters. 85: 436–437 – via Project MUSE.
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