Zanni?

The troupe’s name, ZanniTAVANI, ^{(remember, Zah-nee, not Zay-nee)} comes first from the founding director, Craig Tavani, who has been developing his theory of symmimesis over the past three decades. The name “Zanni,” on the other hand, applies to those comic characters who played the part of servants in the Italian improvisational theatre known as Commedia dell’arte.

Historically, one finds a variety of forms of the word zanni: zane, zanne, zani, especially, zany. Dei Zanni became a generic term for the commedia dell’arte itself (hence “zany”). The Zanni characters were valet buffoons, clowns, and knavish jacks-of-all-trades; zanni possessed common sense, intelligence, pride, and a love of practical jokes, although they often were also quarrelsome, cowardly, envious, spiteful, vindictive, and treacherous. The zanni’s costumes consisted of a wood or leather half mask with hair and beard glued to it, a loose blouse, wide trousers, and a wide-brimmed or conical hat with long feathers. Frequently one of the zanni carried a wooden sword.

Zanni initiated the action of the play, producing comic impact based on repeated comic actions; this stage business, called lazzi consisted of situations, dialogues, gags, rhymes and rigmaroles which actors could call up at a moment’s notice to give the impression of on-stage improvisation. The lazzi, along with topical and practical jokes (burle), was often directed against the smug, the proud, and the pretentious (sounds like the name of a TV soap opera!). Zanni were also noted for their feats of acrobatics and tumbling. (In the case of ZanniTAVANI, however, this is known as tripping and falling.)

In some commedia performances there was only one zanni; in others there might be two to four. The principal character among them was often called simply Zanni, while his companion(s) had various names – Harlequin, Brighella, Scapino, Scaramouche, Pedrolino, Pulcinella, and others.

Frequently two zanni played contrasting roles, the first clever and adept at confounding, the second a dull-witted foil.