Eugenio De Giorgi - Video links: Zanni, Pantolone, Capitano, Arlecchino

On occasion, we ardent Italian scholars of JAGS are fortunate enough to witness an extraordinary event. This year, it came in the form of notable actor Eugenio De Giorgi demonstrating to us how to play some major characters from the respected Italian drama genre, Commedia dell’Arte.

On Thursday 13th May, many of us were thrilled by the prospect of observing his performance, not only because it entailed missing an hour of lessons (for Year 10, the lesson in question was maths!), but because we were able to experience the humour of traditional Italian theatre.

Commedia dell’Arte (Comedy of Art) consists of improvised and unscripted comedic performance. The focus of this style of theatre is more on the manner in which each character is portrayed rather than the actual subject matter, so it’s fair to say that the saying ‘actions speak louder than words’ definitely applies to this. Although each interpretation of Commedia dell’Arte can be presented differently by the individual actor/actress, they all revolve around a particular storyline containing specific characters and mannerisms. The characters De Giorgi showed us ranged from the flirtatious servant girl Colombina (Little Dove), to the raging but secretly terrified Il Capitano (the captain). How each actor interprets these characters is their trademark and can differ greatly, and every year there is a nationwide competition in Italy to find the most individual and skilled portrayal of the characters.

Each character has a mask with rather exaggerated features, and although the masks must have particular characteristics, for instance, Pantalone, the affluent but miserly merchant, is depicted as having a long and crooked nose, withered skin and a furrowed brow, which probably developed as a result of his confusion as to why the considerably younger Colombina continuously refuses his advances. However, the complex personality of each character is not shown through the mask, but is represented more through his posture and type of movements.

Eugenio De Giorgi brilliantly acted the part of each mask utilising fully the wide stage for the movements of his characters, often calling upon the many volunteers within the audience to come up and help demonstrate with him. While a few of us squirmed in an attempt to avoid eye contact, which would inevitably result in De Giorgi’s very Italian grin as we were picked, many of us were more than enthusiastic to go up and get a drama lesson from the great Eugenio De Giorgi. Seeing fellow students mimicking the movements and voices of De Giorgi’s adapted characters engaged the audience further and created a humorous atmosphere, as we watched our peers trying to keep up with a fluent Italian-speaking man.

Obviously, performing to an English audience should have been difficult due to the language barrier, and although De Giorgi was obviously incredibly practised in numerous other European languages, and explained his demonstrations in broken English with that oh-so-familiar ‘Italiano’ twang, Signora Blake kindly stepped in to translate.

All mouths dropped open as Eugenio De Giorgi had us in stitches with his impersonations of an English, French, and then German stereotype. His impressions were accurate to a T and funny beyond belief. A personal favourite was the German one, where he sported the wonderful knee-high socks and britches look. As he finished his parodies, De Giorgi called a member of the audience to imitate an Italian person in conversation. There was an ‘Italian-off’, as De Giorgi’s apprentice, a practised Italian actress, tried to act English in contest with a member of the JAGS sixth-form, who had to ‘be Italian’. As you would expect there were several mentions of ‘ciao’ and ‘pasta’, followed by a roar of laughter, as we struggled to stay upright in our seats. I don’t think I have ever laughed so much in my life!

With much appreciation to Eugenio De Giorgi for sharing his time with us, and to the Italian department for organising the wonderfully entertaining event, we would like to say that the event was molto divertente!

Anjuli Kumar and Simone Powell, Year 10