Today we began making the masks. As we haven't looked at all of the characters yet we haven't decided who shall perform what role, therefore we didn't make the entire mask. All we did today was make the base of our masks using plaster of paris, so that our masks would only fit ourselves. Next lesson we shall look at the remaining characters, decided who is playing what role, and design and begin to make more of our masks.
08/01/16
Today we had a research lesson. We all broke off and did different things. Lewis, Rhiannon and Robert researched the stock characters of Commedia dell'arte whilst James and Ollie researched the history of it and I designed the masks. I decided to research the masks for each character and drew a version of each character to help us when we make our masks.
The characters were also given out this lesson. The cast list is as follows:- Zanni = James
- Brighella = Lorna
- Il Capitano = Robert
- Harlequin = Charlie
- Pantalone = Lewis
- The Doctor = Ollie
- Columbina = Rhiannon
- 1st Actress = Rhiannon
- 1st Actor = James
Brighella Research
- cunning servant - "master of servants and servant of masters"
- a brain character - worked hard to get to their position
- can be a great womaniser, can fall in love with people
- 1st actress can be tempted by him because he's cunning
- he thinks ahead to see how the situation can benefit him
- animal equals are rats, snakes or large cats
- he thrives on double dealings, intrigues and foul play
- he is sleazy, seductive and dangerous
- often cruel to those beneath him on the social ladder, would even go as far as to kill on occasion
- can make up spur-of-the-moment lies for any situation
- medium level and pace
- fairly low pitch voice
- leads with head, elbows out to the side with hands in front of chest
