Comedy tonight

This week at drama, it was time to move on to comedy, working on short improvised scenes that had a farcical element, to longer improvisations which took a turn for the dramatic rather than the comedic. In fact I ended up having a storming row with the other character in my scene, just because of the way it was being played. Ah well, just call me a drama queen.

We then moved on to Commedia dell'Arte, working in pairs, with each playing one of the Commedia stock characters. We were 'Zanni', a couple of wily, and sometimes rather stupid servants, and had to develop, and then perform, a scene using the physicality of the characters. Very difficult, as there's really no such thing as OTT in this type of performance, but, it also has to be controlled, but it was great fun. I've done a bit of Commedia before, at Uni, and love it, as you can really throw yourself into it. After all, it's almost panto season, and panto is based on Commedia. And, it reminds me of being in Venice.