Commedia dell´Arte is the single most important theatrical event in the renaissance and it is the foundation of all western popular comedy. A theatre-form created for the street and first later invited in to the palaces and castles all over Europe. A burlesque form of comedy (or as Michail Bachtin says, "the grotesque realism") from the 1600-century, that still is very much alive.
When working with Commedia dell´Arte we work from three cornerstones:

	The masks, and then we are also talking about the characters that don't wear a mask. The masks have their own inner and outer form, where the outer form reflects the inner form. This leaves the actor the freedom to, in the frame of the mask, give the mask a personal character. We are working from a physical viewpoint and we work with improvisations to find the inner characters of the masks.
	The technique. In this block we work both with pure mask-technique, like size and tempo, but fist of all with the special technique of Commedia dell´Arte to work with the audience as a part of the performance. We are working with "takes" and mask exercises, with exercises related to the audience and with different presentation exercises. Sometimes we also work with acrobatics and other disciplines.
	The lust. With lust I mean the total commitment of the actor. The great difficulty in playing Commedia dell´Arte is in the conflict between the humor of the total engagement in the masks' desire in everything they do and the strict technique that the actor must have to be clear. In this work we concentrate on different improvisations that are based on the actors' total engagement, using the technique that the actor has utilized.

 The workshop starts with an introduction to Commedia dell´Arte, where we explain what Commedia dell´Arte is, its style of play, foundations and history. Click here for more info.