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The Comic Mask in the Commedia dell'Arte: Actor Training, Improvisation, and the Poetics of Survival
Winner, 2007 University & College Designers Association Design Award
Nobody says Shakespeare is dead, Antonio Fava tells us , but Commedia, they say, is dead. Why? Because clearly, he goes on, we have Shakespeare's texts, but nobody knows what to do with the improvisation that is the basis of the Commedia dell'Arte, despite massive documentation. This book by Fava, one of the few living master teachers of Commedia dell'Arte, is the first aesthetic and methodological study of the traditional Italian theater form--the first to describe, in a precise and practical way, what Commedia is and what it should be.
The mask--as object, symbol, character, theatrical practice, even spectacle itself--is the central metaphor around which Fava builds his discussion of structure, themes, characters, and methods. Drawing on twenty years of research conducted through his work as performer, director, mask maker, and scholar, he offers extensive practical, philosophical, and technical guidelines to performing the stock characters of Commedia, observing its structure, extracting its poetics, exploring its themes, and using the mask. A densely layered text combining historical fact, personal experience, philosophical speculation, and passionate opinion, and including copious illustrations--period drawings, prints, and color photographs of leather Commedia masks made by Fava himself-- The Comic Mask in the Commedia dell'Arte is a rich work of singular insight into one of the world's most venerable forms of theater.
Nobody says Shakespeare is dead, Antonio Fava tells us , but Commedia, they say, is dead. Why? Because clearly, he goes on, we have Shakespeare's texts, but nobody knows what to do with the improvisation that is the basis of the Commedia dell'Arte, despite massive documentation. This book by Fava, one of the few living master teachers of Commedia dell'Arte, is the first aesthetic and methodological study of the traditional Italian theater form--the first to describe, in a precise and practical way, what Commedia is and what it should be.
The mask--as object, symbol, character, theatrical practice, even spectacle itself--is the central metaphor around which Fava builds his discussion of structure, themes, characters, and methods. Drawing on twenty years of research conducted through his work as performer, director, mask maker, and scholar, he offers extensive practical, philosophical, and technical guidelines to performing the stock characters of Commedia, observing its structure, extracting its poetics, exploring its themes, and using the mask. A densely layered text combining historical fact, personal experience, philosophical speculation, and passionate opinion, and including copious illustrations--period drawings, prints, and color photographs of leather Commedia masks made by Fava himself-- The Comic Mask in the Commedia dell'Arte is a rich work of singular insight into one of the world's most venerable forms of theater.
- GenresTheatre
262 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 1, 2007
I have had the great good luck to learn from Maestro Fava in person; it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.
August 22, 2021
Siempre me llamó la atención la Commedia dell'arte: las máscaras, Arlecchino, el carnaval de Venecia y todo lo que rodea a este arte. Hace un tiempo quise profundizar un poco más y vi varios videos y leí por arriba un par de libros online hasta dar con éste a un precio muy bueno por la calidad de impresión y de su contenido ($AR1.830 en Mercado Libre jul/2021). Como suele ocurrir en las compras digitales, no existió el ritual de conocer a detalle el índice, la tipografía, el cuidado de la edición pero por suerte resultó excelente: abundantes fotografías de los distintos tipos de máscaras, sólida teoría que destierra mitos y da una visión histórica seria y comprometida que ayuda al aficionado a retomar la tradición sin desvirtuarla pero tampoco momificándola. Lo fui leyendo despacio para disfrutarlo y también porque tiene momentos densos por la terminología y conceptos específicos que por lo menos a mí que soy neófito en el tema no me eran tan familiares.
Ojalá hubiese un libro así sobre el teatro Noh, Kyogen, Kabuki o la ópera china para poder adentrarse en esos mundos fascinantes de la mano de alguien que lo vivió durante décadas desde adentro y que comparte generoso su conocimiento y visión (a veces demasiado subjetiva quizá) pero que sintetiza en un solo lugar información que es difícil encontrar en Internet.
Ojalá hubiese un libro así sobre el teatro Noh, Kyogen, Kabuki o la ópera china para poder adentrarse en esos mundos fascinantes de la mano de alguien que lo vivió durante décadas desde adentro y que comparte generoso su conocimiento y visión (a veces demasiado subjetiva quizá) pero que sintetiza en un solo lugar información que es difícil encontrar en Internet.
July 22, 2015
Great book on Commedia. However, the author is quite fixed in his viewpoint and although some of his opinions are interesting, they could have been presented in a more elastic way. Facts and his opinion seem to be blurred. Nonetheless, the book covers a lot of things and has some lovely pictures of the masks Antonio Fava makes.
September 7, 2007
A little black-and-white about some things he considers absolutes. Which I guess to him they are, by definition. Still, an undeniably great and useful book. Assuming commedia and mask performance is useful to you. Everybody's into that, right? Right?
March 6, 2014
I read this in college because i adored mask work and Commedia is my specialty. Really great book this one. I would recommend it and I'm actually a little gutted i don't own this.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews