Commedia dell’Arte Stage: presentation
Since its origins, the Commedia dell’Arte took inspiration from its people and culture. The numerous characters types, embodied by different kind of masks, talk about ordinary life. Thus masks became the first satire tool and they contributed in making possible the relationship with the everyday social reality.
The Stage proposes to all attendants both to find out and handle the original Commedia dell’Arte techniques. The final goal is to discover the inner mask that may live inside you and to give you all the necessary tools and knowledges to set it alive on the stage.
You will work on some typical Commedia dell’Arte characters as good as on some more recent and contemporary ones. This Stage will allow you to add to your theatrical luggage new colors, nuances and figures.
See below the four steps planning:
· Body and lines
· The masks meet the body
· The characters
· The canvas
Please note that we will provide you all the accessories, masks and musical equipment.
Alberto Ferraro
Alberto Ferraro had his artistic debut in 1996 in Venice (IT). He devoted himself to the Commedia dell’Arte studies supported by a strong group of professional actors. In 2005, he gained his diploma from the International Actors Academy in Rome. He took part in some seminars and workshops with Jacek Ludwig, Michele Monetta, Nando Citarella, Tapa Sudana and Emma Dante; in addition, he usually works with Mario Martone and Renato Carpentieri too. Parallel, he is engaged in a research project and some study activities on the popular songs of Mediterranean tradition as well as the peculiar Italian dialects reality, in particular in Campania and Veneto areas. Moreover, he sings and acts in the Semp’a ppò group, both in Italy and France. With the sculptor and player Mirko Ferraro, he manages the artisanal boutique “O Purtone”, where they both work the leather in order to create the Commedia dell’Arte typical masks. In 2016 he founded the Iustumo association in Rome (IT). Since several years, Alberto Ferraro has attended the Young European Theatre Meetings hosted in Grenoble (FR) and he is a member of the Young European Theatre network himself. He organizes and leads his Stages all over Europe and regularly takes part at the Meetings in Grenoble.
The coming back on the stage
15 people gathered that early evening at the Créarc’s Theatre. 15 leather masks, made by Alberto Ferraro himself, are wisely displaced on a table, waiting for the attendants to choose the one that might suit them.
The training begins. In a very first moment, it focuses on the body. The attendants start a personal research on their own body and its different possibilities of expression, picturing the imminent work with the masks.
Then the time comes to combine one’s mask with its linked personal gesture. Each person sets alive the character that best matches his or her inner self. This is when the actor disappears in favor of an apparition: thus the grotesqueness devoured by the sexual hunger may bring a Greek Dionysian satyr alive. A silhouette draws vacant souls like the ones you can see in the Chinese canvases.
During the evaluation time, an attendant claimed: “The mask brought up another character than the one I had in my mind at the beginning!” All of the actors and actresses highlighted the power of the masks and the deep examination of their selves they have been through during the training. “I would like to go further and faster”, someone pointed out. “This training requires time and patience”, answered Alberto while picturing the future sessions of his stage. Indeed, a future collaboration with him is fixed for the 29th Rencontres edition in July 2017.
Documents
Poster Commedia dell'Arte : Click on this link to open this document.
Tariffs :
Unemployed people, students, RSA : 66€Employees : 81€
Besides the tariff of the inscription, an annual adhesion to Créarc is required : 15€
French version
