Lazzi

Lazzi (/ˈlɑːtsi/; from the Italian lazzo, a joke or witticism) are stock comedic routines that are associated with commedia dell'arte. Performers, especially those playing the masked Arlecchino, had many examples of this in their repertoire, and would use improvisatory skills to weave them into the plot of dozens of different commedia scenarios.[1][2] These largely physical sequences could be improvised or preplanned within the performance and were often used to enliven the audience when a scene was dragging, to cover a dropped line or cue, or to delight an expectant audience with the troupe's specialized lazzi.[3][4]

Lazzi could be completed by a single player (e.g. the Lazzo of the School of Humanity wherein a Zanni character would announce that his sister was running a "school of humanity" from their home because she was a prostitute), a few individuals (e.g. the Lazzo of the Straw wherein a stock character of higher status would pour wine as his servant emptied it through a straw), or the entire troupe (e.g. the Lazzo of Nightfall wherein the entire troupe would stumble onto stage to enact hapless physical sequences as though the room was pitch black).[3][5] While its placement in the plot was usually fixed during rehearsals, it was acceptable for an actor to unexpectedly utter a predetermined line of dialogue that instructed fellow performers to enact lazzi at any time during the performance. Sometimes lazzi could take place in dances or songs accompanied by onstage stringed musical instruments.[6]

  1. ^ Boyd, Timothy W. (2012-08-01). "Memory on Canvas: Commedia dell'Arte as a Model for Homeric Performance". Oral Tradition. 26 (2). doi:10.1353/ort.2011.0025. hdl:10355/65243. ISSN 1542-4308. S2CID 162185511.
  2. ^ Smith, Winifred (1912). The Commedia Dell'arte: A Study in Italian Popular Comedy. Columbia University Press. pp. 5–10. ISBN 9780742643543.
  3. ^ a b Garfein, Herschel; Gordon, Mel; Turci, Gennaro (1978-01-01). "The Adriani Lazzi of the Commedia Dell'Arte". The Drama Review: TDR. 22 (1): 3–12. doi:10.2307/1145163. JSTOR 1145163.
  4. ^ Smith, Winifred (1912). The Commedia Dell'arte: A Study in Italian Popular Comedy. The Columbia University Press. pp. 5–10.
  5. ^ Gordon, Mel (1983). Lazzi: The Comic Routines of the Commedia Dell'arte. Performing Arts Journal Publications. ISBN 9780933826694.
  6. ^ Oreglia, Giacomo (1968). The Commedia dell'Arte. New York: Dramabook. pp. 11–12. ISBN 0-8090-0545-X. The lazzi were stage jests in mime or words, sometimes even in dances (sarabands, pavanes, galliards, bergamasques, chaconnes and the like) and songs (strambotti- short rounds in folk style, frottole- popular songs, arias, canzoni) accompanied by musical instruments such as the guitar, the theorbo, the flute, the Neapolitan lute and the mandola or small lute.