The Spirit of Commedia dell'Arte

A workshop with Giovanni Fusetti

In the pedagogy of Jacques Lecoq, this fundamental theatre style holds a crucial position, informing the whole vision of devising theatre through improvisation, with very strong physically based characters, transposed by the masks into types. Mask play (le jeu masqué) combines strong emotional awareness and a powerful body alertness, with a rigorous technique of articulation of the body into dramatic attitudes. In Commedia, the actor is provoked to reach a very high level of play, touching the depth of human archetypes. The half-masks play in a world of urgencies and survival, where passions, drives and human behavior are pushed to a permanent extreme. Their specific tragic depth can bring the actor to a very high level of poetic transposition, where laughter and crying are intertwined.

Improvisation skills, and a kind of play based on the constant unfolding of a comic theme, train the actor both to enjoy a very physical and rhythmical play and to develop a sense of playwriting and dramatic crescendo. This incredibly vital style teaches the actor to truly experience what improvisation means, and how theatre can represent the wonderful madness of human beings, in a jubilation of rigorous fun. The Spirit of Commedia is a celebration of the true art of the performer: deeply embodied archetypal characters playing all’improvviso in the virtuous development of comic themes (lazzi).

 

About Giovanni Fusetti

Giovanni Fusetti encountered theater while receiving his degree in Agriculture and Ecology at the University of Padova (1985-1989). This encounter led to an artistic and pedagogic quest that has been unfolding for over three decades.

After attending a variety of workshops and projects involving Mime, Puppets, Street Theatre, Theatre of the Oppressed, Community Theatre, Storytelling and Clown, he trained at the École International de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq (1992-1994), after which he was invited by Jacques Lecoq to teach Improvisation at the School.

Since then, Giovanni Fusetti has continued to work internationally as a teacher, pedagogue and director, during an artistic journey that led him to work as a guest teacher with leading theater companies, universities, schools and training centers in the field of Movement Based Theater. Giovanni has taught in Italy, France, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia, Norway, Finland, Sweden, USA, Argentina, Lebanon, India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

As a performer, Giovanni has explored movement-based theatre creation with various companies including Pig Iron Theatre Company in Philadelphia (US) as trainer and devising consultant. He has directed and co-written clown and bouffon shows with former students and alumni.

Currently Giovanni Fusetti is the founding pedagogic director of the HELIKOS International School of Theatre Creation based in Padova, Italy. He focuses mainly on pedagogic practice, research and transmission. He is deeply grateful to all the masters and teachers who has opened the path before him, as well as to all the students who have inspired and enriched his life and quest. Since the beginnings of his quest, Giovanni has been integrating in his pedagogy, movement based theater with different practices of physical and emotional awareness. His desire is to explore the ancient vision of theatre as a way to individual and collective ecstasy.

https://giovannifusetti.com