Jay
Cross [22 Sep 2002]
Duchartre
cites Riccoboni as writing: The acting of
the Harlequins before the seventeenth century
was nothing but a continual play of extravagant
tricks, violent movements, and outrageous rogueries.
He was at once insolent, mocking, inept, clownish,
and emphatically ribald. I believe he was extraordinary
agile, and he seemed to be constantly in the
air; and I might confidently add that he was
a proficient tumbler.
We
have had only a few people in our troupe that
might have been athletic enough to be able to
play him this way. That would be Craig Swanson
and Aaron Santos.
|
|
Jay
Cross [14 Jun 2003]
Antonio
Fava has said that it is possible that Arlecchino,
as Tristano Martinelli invented him, may have
been more like an 'Africino'. Certainly, in the
early imagery, he is the only character with a
black mask. There is a possibly accidental connection
then between him and the early twentieth century
performer Stepin Fetchit AKA Lincoln Theodore
Monroe Andrew Perry [1892-1985]. He played a shuffling,
lazy, superstitious caricature.
Another
interesting point is that Martinelli did not play
him with a Bergamo accent, though by the seventeenth
century, he was usually played that way.
|
