I See Commedia in.. Fairytales!!

Cinderella:


Pantalone - Step Mother
Male Lover - Prince
Female Lover - Cinderella
Zanni - The Mice and Fairy Godmother 


Sleeping Beauty:


Zanni -  The Three Fairies
Female Lover - Aurora 
Male Lover - Prince Phillip
Pantalone - Prince Phillip's father


Snow White:


Zanni - The seven dwarfs, huntsman
Pantalone - Queen
Female Lover - Snow White
Male Lover - Prince

Commedia Project: Improv process: Idea Brainstorm - Moments to Keep

- Brighella shining Pantalone's shoes: Mid 'butt in the face lazzi' she sticks her hands in between her legs to grab Pantalone's money.


- Male lover is questionably gay.


- Scene 2: Male lover says 'I want to marry..Victor!..ria'.


- Tristan has fake hair in his sleeve while he is cutting the Male Lovers hair and subtly throws it around as if he were actually cutting his hair.


- Scene 4: Pantalone shutters at the thought of Brighella's butt while he retraces his steps to find his money.


- Scene 4: Arlequino enters with Capitano. Capitano is too slow of a walker and it irritates Arlequino so mid walk he picks her up and she continues to improv walking while she is in the air.

Commedia Project

Characters:


Emily - Capitana 
Sydni - Brighella
Connor - Male Lover
Tristan - Arelcchino
Tegan - Female Lover
Aaron - Pantalone 


Plot Overview:


Brighella steals money from Pantalone. Pantalone tries to get the money back. Side story of the lovers that sometimes intersects. 


Scenes:


1 - Brighella steals Pantalone's money while he shines his shoes.
2 - Arlecchino cuts the male lovers hair. The male lover talks about his dilemma. His father (Pantalone) wants him to marry the ugly Olga but he wants to marry Victoria.
3 - The male lover confesses his love for Victoria. Pantalone is confused as to what happened to his sons hair.
4 - Arlecchino goes to fetch Capitano under Pantalone's request. While he does so, Pantalone has a monologue. He tries to figure out where his money went. Pantalone asks for Capitano's help to find his money. Capitano has a monologue where he boasts about his accomplishments. Arlecchino agrees to help Capitano.
5 - Capitano starts investigation. Capitano's lazzi. Capitano deems Flavio innocent.
6 - Flavio professes his love to Vittoria. Vittoria professes her love to Flavio and comments on his bad haircut. Flavio apologizes and professes his love yet again. Vittoria does the same..yet again. Flavio and Vittoria are about to kiss when Brighella pops up as a shop keeper and offers bread for sale which prevents them from kissing. This happens two more times. On the third time, Pantalone interrupts instead of Brighella. Flavio starts yelling thinking it is Brighella yet again and is shocked and ashamed when he sees that it is Pantalone. Pantalone gets angry at Flavio and runs off.
7 - Pantalone talks to Vittoria and makes advances. Vittoria is oblivious which makes Pantalone frustrated. He gets mad at her for playing with his son's heart. Pantalone storms off.
8 - Vittoria has a monologue where she talks about her love for Flavio. Brighella overhears and plots to break up Flavio and Olga so he can marry Olga. Brighella finds Arlecchino and tells him his plan.
9 - Arlecchino explains to the lovers while Capitano investigates Vittoria.
10 - THE PLAN UNFOLDS. Capitano says that Pantalone never actually had the money. Brighella comes in posing as Vittoria's newly found father and pays Pantalone for the lovers marriage. Pantalone allows the marriage and they get married. Brighella goes off to marry Olga.


Settings:


Scene 1 - Shoe Shiner
Scene 2 - Hair salon 
Scene 3 - Pantalone's house
Scene 4 - Pantalone's house
Scene 5 - Pantalone's house
Scene 6 - Market




Props:


Fanny Pack for Pantalone 


Lazzis:


Butt in the face (sticking his butt in peoples faces) - Brighella
Hair Flip - Male Lover
Finishing sentences - Arlecchino 
Stupid Question/Stupid Detective - Capitano

Atlanta International Schools Production of 'Alice in Wonderland': Queen of Hearts Make up

The Queen of Hearts is supposed to look crazy/mean/wacky and wear mostly the colour red (as she is the Queen of 'Hearts'). The look used on Helena Bonham - Carter was great due to the luxury they had of special affects. In the movie, her body was small and her head was very large. Unfortunately, we don't have the same type of affects in a play and to do a make up job like this would be too much. However, we should still incorporate some of the main features of her look, such as the red lips, the white face and the mole.


It is important that she has a white face because not only does it make the rest of the make up look more dramatic, but it also fits her character traits of looking crazy and wacky (similar to the Mad Hatter). The Queen of Hearts is also meant to be unattractive. This feature is important because her sister (the White Queen) is supposed to be the attractive one who looks friendly and angelic. It is the contrast between these two characters that creates humor and makes for a fun story.


As the Queen of Hearts wears mostly red, it is important to go with theme and do a matte red lip. A good example of a red lipstick is in figure 1. This lipstick is from the same collection as the one I suggested for the Mad Hatter. It is a pro long-wear lipstick that won't rub off and need constant re-applying every time she gets off stage.

Figure 1: Mac Cosmetics Pro Longwear Lipreme in 'Prolong'


A mole is a stereotypical feature of an unattractive person. They have been used to describe witches and unattractive characters for a long time. Therefore, as they did for Helena Bonham - Carter, our queen of hearts should also have a black mole.


In Helena Bonham - Carter's look they raised her eyebrows and used a lot of blue eyeshadow. As we don't have close ups, the amount of tools it would take to do something that extravagant would not be appreciated. Instead we should do a thick line of black eyeliner on her top lid in the shape of a cat eye (as shown in figure 2). This look is very dramatic and can be seen by the audience. Underneath the eyeliner, we should fill her lid with a blue eye shadow (similar to the one in figure 3). To give a more dramatic affect, we should put a very thin line of black eyeliner underneath the eye and underneath that apply a line of the blue eyeshadow. This can be done using a brush like the one in figure 4.

Figure 2: An example of a Cat Eye

Figure 3: Mac Eyeshadow in 'Moon's Reflection'

Figure 4: Mac Cosmetics Flat Definer Brush


Her eyelashes should be noticeable as she is on stage and it would make her eyes more visible to the audience. However, similar to the Mad Hatter, her eyelashes need to be over the top as every other actor on stage will already be wearing the maximum amount of mascara. Fake eyelashes like the ones in figure 5 would be a good choice as they are black so they will be seen by the audience and they aren't necessarily 'glamorous'. They are a 'wacky' style that will match her 'wacky' look. As you can see in the image, the top eyelashes are thick and separated. 

Figure 5: An example of Fake Eyelashes

Atlanta International Schools Production of 'Alice in Wonderland': Alice's Make Up

Alice's make up should be simple as she is a young girl in the nineteenth century. During this time period girls of her age wouldn't wear lots of make up and eye shadow/lipstick etc. Therefore she should have a clean face, pink cheeks, mascara, a bit of eyeliner and a neutral lip.


Foundation makes the face look clean and even. Therefore, Alice should wear foundation so that from the audiences perspective, she looks clean and almost angelic. It is especially important to apply it underneath the eyes and in the two creases of the nose as this makes the face look brighter and more awake as apposed to tired and old.


On her cheeks she should wear a subtle pink blush. The blush shouldn't be too dramatic because that will make it look like she's wearing make up. The affect of the blush is to make her look natural. It will make her look healthy like she has been running around outside on a cold day. A good blush for this would be the blush in Figure 1. This blush is an ombre which is a subtle combination of two colours. The two colours used in this particular blush makes a light pink. This isn't a very pigmented blush which is good because it means it won't go on very strong.

Figure 1: Mac Cosmetics Blush Ombre in 'Azalea Blossom'


The eyeliner and mascara is only necessary because this is a play and the audience needs to be able to see her face. Therefore, if we apply mascara and a small amount of eyeliner under the eyes, the audience will be able to see her eyes while she's performing


As she is a young girl she should have a neutral lip. However, a neutral lip on stage is different from a neutral lip in real life. A neutral lip on stage is achieved by neutral coloured lipsticks that make the lips stand out in a neutral way. Two good examples of lipsticks for Alice are in Figure 2 and 3. Figure 2 is a happier colour that would make Alice look like the young, innocent and healthy girl that she is. Figure 3 is a more neutral colour that if was used, wouldn't really look like she was wearing a lipstick. Although Figure 3 is the general point of Alice's make up, Figure 2 may be a better choice for her character.

Figure 2: Mac Lipstick in 'Please Me'

Figure 3: Mac Lipstick in 'Modesty'

Atlanta International Schools Production of 'Alice in Wonderland': Mad Hatter's Make up

The Mad hatter needs to look not only happy but crazy at the same time. Johnny Depp's look incorporated the happy and approachable with bright colours (e.g. orange hair, eye shadow) and the crazy with the bright orange hair. 


I think the Mad hatter for Atlanta International Schools production should incorporate some of the same aspects. However, instead of orange hair, he should have orange lips (Figure 1). The lipstick used in figure 1 is good because it lasts for a long time and doesn't fade off like most lipsticks.

Figure 1: Mac Cosmetics Pro Longwear Lipcreme in 'Good to Go to Shop'. 


He should still have wild hair, however, instead of orange it should be a more common colour like brown. This simple feature will make the make up stand out more. It should be brown because the white face would be too much if his hair were to be a lighter colour like blonde. The white complexion is important because it brings out the bright colours used on the eyes, lips etc. 


Instead of the dark plum colour used under his cheek bones, he should have a brighter colour like the one in figure 2. The colour on his cheeks needs to be brighter due to the less dramatic hair colour. It wasn't as necessary in Johnny Depp's look because his hair was bright orange. However, with a common colour like brown the make up needs to be brighter.

Figure 2: Mac Cosmetics Blush in 'Bright Fuchsia'


Because this is a theatre production and we don't have the luxury of cameras and close ups, the white eye lashes would be pointless. They wouldn't be able to be seen by the audience and they would drown out the rest of the make up around the eyes and make his eyes less visible to the audience. Instead he should have dramatic black eyelashes. They should be long, think and dramatic like the ones in figure 3. In order to get this type of drama one usually uses fake eyelashes. Fake eyelashes would probably be the best idea for the Mad Hatter because everyone else on stage will be wearing the maximum amount of mascara possible. The Mad Hatter needs to go further than everyone else on stage.

Figure 3: Fake Eyelashes


A colour that goes really well with brown hair is crystal blue. Therefore, a good idea instead of green contacts would be crystal blue contacts like the ones in figure 4. Eyes like these will be seen from the back row of the LPAC. The black eyelashes would make them pop.

Figure 4: Crystal Blue Contacts


Finally, we should keep the concept of multiple colours around the eyes. This makes him look happy and crazy at the same time. He would look more approachable with lots of bright eye shadows as apposed to a dark smokey eye. Therefore, we should do something like the style of figure 5. This look incorporates bright colours and looks almost like a rainbow. However, in our look we should switch the green and the blue around as we have blue eyes and not green. In order to get a look like this we would need to use extremely pigmented eyeshadows. In Johnny Depp's look, the eyeshadows are matte which is usually preferable for stage makeup. However, the shimmer in this look may look interesting on someone that is supposed to look 'out there'.

Figure 5: Eyeshadows

'Scrooge the Musical' with Tommy Steele

While I was in England I saw 'Scrooge the Musical' at the Lowry Theatre in Manchester. I had seen the same show about four years ago when it was featuring Shane Richie. This time it was featuring Tommy Steele. Scrooge the Musical is the musical version of 'A Christmas Carol'. The musical aspect changed the mood of the play. Although it was the same play, the musical numbers, dancing and comedy made it more bearable to watch. 


Tommy Steele is a rather popular actor from London. He gave comedy to the play. Although in his 70s, he was still running around the stage, singing, dancing and getting the audience excited. When I saw it two years ago with Shane Richie the performance seemed a lot different. Although Shane Richie is funny, what we took away from the show was his singing voice. Shane Richie is a lot younger than Tommy Steele and has this amazing, loud singing voice. Although Tommy Steele had that at one point in his life, with age it went away. He still has an amazing voice for someone his age, however, the most memorable part of Tommy Steele's performance in comparison to Shane Richie's performance, was the comedy. I would have to say that after seeing both performances, I preferred the version with Tommy Steele.


The performance included many interesting illusions. For example, 'The Ghost of Christmases yet to come' was entirely an illusion as apposed to someone in a black cape. There were also illusions involving 'The Ghost of Christmas Past' and 'Jacob Marley'. There was a specific moment in the play when 'The Ghost of Christmas Past' had to leave. The actress walked up to a mirror and faced it with her cape completely covering her. Scrooge was hugging her and begging her to stay as he had learned that the ghost was actually his younger sister. He then pulled on the cape and she was no longer inside it. She appeared inside the mirror that she was originally facing.


A moment in the play that stood out to me was in one of the ensemble scenes. Scrooge was out in London asking everyone to pay him back for the money he had loaned them. During the scene there was a Punch and Judy stand. The man running it was giving a Punch and Judy puppet show to the younger children. This stood out to me because we have been studying Commedia and Punch and Judy in our theatre class.


I found this play very enjoyable and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is tired of the typical performance of 'A Christmas Carol'. Below is the advertisement for the show.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwYq26oAZVw