A variant on Brighella, he's a bit (but only a bit) less violent than the big brawler and instead is more interested in the ladies. Jokes about prostate troubles, broken hips, and 'back in my day we wore an onion on our belt' will abound. This costume consists of a white, baggy jumpsuit, or else loose trousers and a button-down shirt, sometimes with overly-long sleeves.
My own best guess, based on information available to me, is that it comes from Frankish karalchin, or "little man" (cognate to the names Karl and Charles.) PRIMARY COMIC TRAIT: The antics of love/lust. He has an unusual mask that covers only the nose and forehead, either black or flesh-tone, and dresses in black. According to Duchartre, Scaramouche is a variation of the Captain.
The illustration shows the character to bear a strong resemblance to Scaramouch, and so is likely a variant on either him or on the Captain, and this is further supported in that the illustration appears to portray him threatening to pull his sword on another zanni; but Allardyce Nicoll in his book The World of Harlequin speculates he might be a variant on the character Coviello. He particularly took off in English-speaking countries after the character was revamped during the late seventeenth century to be more innocent and romantic. In what ways might Strasberg's Method be more suited for film acting than Stanislavski's System?
His mask is formed to have a long, hooked, beak-like nose, and his costume usually includes a tall hat of some form.
John Vorhaus's book The Comic Toolbox offers some excellent methods for creating a comic character and analyzing what makes a joke funny; I've tried to sum up each role's "comic perspective" around which most of the humor will be based, through listing the character's primary and secondary comic traits. See also: Francesquina. He is driven by his desire to be the richest he can possibly be, the modern equivalent of this character is Mr Burns from The Simpsons. Why do some people say you have to be a free mason to have an equity card for being an actor? Capitano.
He's not usually shown to be particularly smart, and he, like many zanni, is often inclined toward gluttony and lust. Another attribute of Harlequin is a wooden prop -- usually a wooden sword or a wooden stick (originally a slapstick, but later evolutions show it as just a walking stick or cane.). His costume consists of pants and a shirt or else a jumpsuit, usually red in color, with a long black coat or a cape thrown over.
SECONDARY COMIC TRAIT: Cowardice or ineptitude, in contrast to his primary trait.
Unusually, the character of the Captain can fall into both the zanni and the vecchi categories, and can even fill the part of the inamorato on occasion. Unitizing the script (script analysis) or memorization of script.
The character was well-known enough in Italy that 'coviello' became a term for a boastful idiot. A Brighella derivative; his name is related to the English word "escape" in reference to his tendency to flee from fights, even those he himself began. Pantelone, the old miser, thin, miserable, evil - Mr Burns, The Doctor, has a position of authority, thinks he knows it all, but is in fact quite stupid and gluttenous - Cheif Wiggum, Arlechinno - Michevious, impish fool. Mezzetino's name suggests that alcohol is also another of his interests (from mezzeta meaning a wine-measure or a pint, according to John Florio's dictionary of 1611 -- though Lynne Lawner in Harlequin on the Moon claims the name actually refers to the character's role as a middle-man or "go between.") But which Springfield denizens have fascinated us the most across all 31 seasons so far? If you need help finding the name go to the search button and insert the name your looking for.
Perhaps the most popular and definitely best-known of the commedia characters.
He is smart but often seems to make a poor impression on others -- Duchartre even gives an example where he's downright creepy, flirting with a girl by explaining how he has murdered his last wife and will murder his current wife to be with her. He is opportunistic and greedy, and in many scenari he is revealed to have never been a captain at all; and if he does have legitimate claim to the title he only earned it through deception and bravado. He wears a dark brown or black colored mask, sometimes with a beard or mustache attached. An ill-tempered but intelligent zanni, he is known to be dangerous and may even commit murders or other violent crimes. Oddly for a female character, it appears she did traditionally wear a mask, which looks to have been modeled after the bauta style, but with a higher mouth so as not to obscure her speech.
My own best guess, based on information available to me, is that it comes from Frankish karalchin, or "little man" (cognate to the names Karl and Charles.) PRIMARY COMIC TRAIT: The antics of love/lust. He has an unusual mask that covers only the nose and forehead, either black or flesh-tone, and dresses in black. According to Duchartre, Scaramouche is a variation of the Captain.
The illustration shows the character to bear a strong resemblance to Scaramouch, and so is likely a variant on either him or on the Captain, and this is further supported in that the illustration appears to portray him threatening to pull his sword on another zanni; but Allardyce Nicoll in his book The World of Harlequin speculates he might be a variant on the character Coviello. He particularly took off in English-speaking countries after the character was revamped during the late seventeenth century to be more innocent and romantic. In what ways might Strasberg's Method be more suited for film acting than Stanislavski's System?
His mask is formed to have a long, hooked, beak-like nose, and his costume usually includes a tall hat of some form.
John Vorhaus's book The Comic Toolbox offers some excellent methods for creating a comic character and analyzing what makes a joke funny; I've tried to sum up each role's "comic perspective" around which most of the humor will be based, through listing the character's primary and secondary comic traits. See also: Francesquina. He is driven by his desire to be the richest he can possibly be, the modern equivalent of this character is Mr Burns from The Simpsons. Why do some people say you have to be a free mason to have an equity card for being an actor? Capitano.
He's not usually shown to be particularly smart, and he, like many zanni, is often inclined toward gluttony and lust. Another attribute of Harlequin is a wooden prop -- usually a wooden sword or a wooden stick (originally a slapstick, but later evolutions show it as just a walking stick or cane.). His costume consists of pants and a shirt or else a jumpsuit, usually red in color, with a long black coat or a cape thrown over.
SECONDARY COMIC TRAIT: Cowardice or ineptitude, in contrast to his primary trait.
Unusually, the character of the Captain can fall into both the zanni and the vecchi categories, and can even fill the part of the inamorato on occasion. Unitizing the script (script analysis) or memorization of script.
The character was well-known enough in Italy that 'coviello' became a term for a boastful idiot. A Brighella derivative; his name is related to the English word "escape" in reference to his tendency to flee from fights, even those he himself began. Pantelone, the old miser, thin, miserable, evil - Mr Burns, The Doctor, has a position of authority, thinks he knows it all, but is in fact quite stupid and gluttenous - Cheif Wiggum, Arlechinno - Michevious, impish fool. Mezzetino's name suggests that alcohol is also another of his interests (from mezzeta meaning a wine-measure or a pint, according to John Florio's dictionary of 1611 -- though Lynne Lawner in Harlequin on the Moon claims the name actually refers to the character's role as a middle-man or "go between.") But which Springfield denizens have fascinated us the most across all 31 seasons so far? If you need help finding the name go to the search button and insert the name your looking for.
Perhaps the most popular and definitely best-known of the commedia characters.
He is smart but often seems to make a poor impression on others -- Duchartre even gives an example where he's downright creepy, flirting with a girl by explaining how he has murdered his last wife and will murder his current wife to be with her. He is opportunistic and greedy, and in many scenari he is revealed to have never been a captain at all; and if he does have legitimate claim to the title he only earned it through deception and bravado. He wears a dark brown or black colored mask, sometimes with a beard or mustache attached. An ill-tempered but intelligent zanni, he is known to be dangerous and may even commit murders or other violent crimes. Oddly for a female character, it appears she did traditionally wear a mask, which looks to have been modeled after the bauta style, but with a higher mouth so as not to obscure her speech.