Creating a cannovacci

Aim of Task: To create our first Commedia dell' Arte Cannovacci. To know how the Cannovacci's in Commedia dell' Arte work. To start performing in our characters.

Description of Task: The whole class was divided in three groups. Each group will develop a Cannovacci that we will later present on stage, in public. Our group is conformed by Zanni, IL Dotore, IL Capitano, Isabella, Colombina and Pantalone. My character is Pantalone. As a group, we started brainstorming on what could we do as the main theme of our Cannovacci. We started brainstorming about a lot of things: dreams, parties, end of the world... We were not sure on what theme to choose but after thinking about the movie "inception" we decided that it would be a good idea to combine the idea of the apocalypse, the end of the world in 2012 according to the Mayans and the concept of dreams. We started brainstorming on how to combine these two themes in a single Cannovacci. The Apocalypse theme is rather unreal, so we decided that it would be good to include it as part of a dream. We could make the whole apocalypse and the world ending thing as part of the dreams of the characters in the Cannovacci.

After we had a theme, we started thinking about the exposition, which should be the part of the Cannovacci that goes first and is responsible of exposing the characters, it's relationships with each other and the setting. For the exposition, La Ruffiana is going to come in, giving a brief introduction of the plot, setting and characters. After, we will have Zanni in Pantalone's house. Then, Pantalone and Isabella will come in, with Pantalone referring to Isabella as his daughter and referring to Zanni as his servant. Pantalone could be talking about something like his bussinesses making money since it is a very common topic for Pantalone.

Another scene we could include is a market scene, with IL Dotore. In the market scene, IL Dotore will be selling his merchandise to Zanni or one of Pantalone's servants. That would present IL Dotore as potion-selling doctor he is in many of the Cannovacci's. IL Capitano will be included in scenes with Isabella. Since there is no Flavio in our play, IL Capitano would play as the lover of Isabella.

Most of the comedy in the play will rely on Zanni's dumbness, silliness and inability to express himself in complete words. Zanni is a dumb servant, in our Cannovacci he will not speak at all. The only thing he does is run around and make yelling sounds like if he was trying to speak. Zanni is great to make people laugh with his very uncontrolled movements. The first scene will have Zanni and Pantalone in it, and Pantalone will push him

Reflection: While we were discussing all of these things in the group, it was very difficult to agree on something. All of us had several ideas but it was difficult to choose which ones to include and which ones we shouldn't include. As a non-native English speaker, I also found it sometimes difficult to express my ideas fully to all the group. It took us a long time to discuss and actually agree on our theme, I think it may be one of the most difficult parts of creating a cannovacci. After this, we will start building upon the ideas we already have to create the specifics of the Cannovacci.

Conclusion: Now that we have the topic of our Cannovacci, we need to start talking about the specific scenes and lines. We need to think about specific things that will make up the comedy in the Cannovacci.