The aims are to:

• develop students’ understanding of a theatrical genre
• use mask and movement confidently
• develop confidence for performance.

By the end of this project, students are expected to have:

• developed an understanding of commedia dell’arte
• created and used their own mask in rehearsal and performance
• realised that a character can be developed from physical elements as well as through emotions
• created and performed a stock character.

The skills covered in this project include (but are not limited to) the use of body language to create character.

The techniques which are covered in lessons in this project include:

• centre of weight
• clocking the audience
• commedia dell’arte
• mask work
• passing the focus.

The key words which are used in this project include:

• centre of weight
• clocking the audience
• commedia dell’arte
• lazzi
• mask
• passing the focus
• rehearsal
• stock character.

The text which students encounter during this project includes that which they come across when doing research, information about commedia dell’arte characters and masks.

This series of lessons has cross-curricular links with History and Art and Design.

Students should be assessed in this project on the extent to which they:

• understand the stock characters
• develop an original plot
• demonstrate knowledge of using masks in performance.

Web sites which could be used for further information on this topic include:

	Commedia dell’Arte

	History of Commedia dell’Arte

	www.delpiano.com: Carnival of Venice: La Commedia dell’Arte

	I Sebastiani Commedia Troupe

	I Sebastiani: Scenarios On-Line

	Trading Faces

	Trestle Theatre Company

This project meets the following recommendations from Drama in Schools (Second Edition) (Arts Council England, 2003). For a complete mapping, see Managing: Drama in Schools.

Level 4: Responding

• Demonstrate an awareness of some theatre traditions from different times and places, eg Kathakali dance drama, Greek or Tudor theatre

Level 5: Responding

• Relate, compare and contrast their work with drama from other times and cultures

Level 6: Responding

• Discuss and give reasons for their preferences in drama, based on their knowledge of theatre past and present, eg the use of stock characters drawn from commedia dell’arte