Commedia dell’arte Colombina Cate Anderson

Wk 7 – Study a specific Commedia Dell’Arte stock character and discuss where these can be
found in form within musical theatre works – with song and picture references.

Commedia dell’arte is a form of theatre which began in Italy in the 16 th century, and refers
to unscripted or improvised drama made up of several pre-determined stock characters,
and can be easily defined by its use of different masks on the various characters. The
storylines mostly contained the stories of infatuation, schemes to get money, or plans to
outsmart some simpleton, and always contained those same basic stock characters.
Commedia dell'arte began in streets and market places of the early Italian Renaissance,
although it's roots can be traced as far back as far as Ancient
Greek and Roman Theatre. These street performers eventually 1
joined together to create travelling troupes of actors, solidifying
the genre.
Colombina is the name of one of these stock characters,
and she is the maid to the leading female, as well as the wife of
Arlecchino, or the Harlequin. In the early development of the
commedia style, Colombina was very overtly sexual, older and
more endowed, however, as time went on, she became a
younger, more graceful and far more engaging character. The role
mainly serves as a confidante to the leading female and a message
carrier, and can also be seen to reflect her mistress’s behaviour
and mood, due to Colombina falling under the bracket of the
servant characters. Her personality can be described as that of the
‘tricky slave’, the one who puts in place everything for the lovers
to find on another by the means of the manipulation of her lovers,
and is the one to regain the control when situations go awry. She is commonly the only
intellectual on the stage, seeing all of the other characters for the fools that they are, often
building a relationship with the audience with her wit, sarcasm and observations. Colombina
is interesting in the sense that she has no negative attributes; she is intelligent, wise, lucid,
and no ambition to be rich, a folly that hinders other characters such as Pantalone,
however, her one weakness could be seen as her love, and lust for men.
2 The costume of Colombina can vary, occasionally, she is
dressed in counterpart with her partner, Arlecchino, in
diamonds of bright colours, or can be dressed in the style of
her mistress, or even, if she is an independent character in the
scene, can be dressed in black and white, in a costume similar
to that of a traditional French maid. Colombina does not wear
a mask, but rather heavy eye makeup, which speaks to the
importance of the character in the Commedia dell’arte form,
and her vital role in the overall story arch of the performances.
The character also often wears a small apron, carries a basket,
and a tambourine. This tambourine tradition stems from the
origins of the character, to a time when women were not
permitted to properly act on stage, a woman, referred to as Le
ballerine and/or le cantarine, would come on stage before the performance and play the
tambourine as a sort of ent’racte.
Even in musical theatre today, the character of Colombina can be found, such as in
Sweeney Todd with Mrs. Lovett. She is cunning, smart and clear headed, manipulating the
far more simplistic, rage-filled Sweeney in order to get what she wants, his affections.
Another example would be Meg Giry from Phantom of the Opera as the confidante to the
innamorata, Christine, and her unwillingness to be drawn into Christine’s fantasy of the
‘Angel of Music’. Sibella for A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder is another great
example, shown in her love of men, demonstrated by her affair with Monty, and her role in
bringing things back in order when situations go awry. Other examples include Anita from
West Side Story, and her ability to see the truth, and Reno Sweeney from Anything Goes,
due to her role in bringing the two romantic leads, Billy and Hope together.

1. An example of Colombina’s traditional costume.

2. Colombina playing the tambourine.

http://shane-arts.com/Commedia-Columbina.htm
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/backstage/commedia-dellarte
http://www.theatrehistory.com/italian/commedia_dell_arte_001.html