Kraków celebrates the international Comedia dell’Arte Day for the 13th time!

The folk-theatre style dates back to 16th-century Italy, and its influence on art is just as important the present day, reaching far beyond theatre. The KOMEDIANTY Troupe has joined forces with dancers from the “Cracovia Danza” Courtly Ballet and swordsmen and women from the Teatr Walki fencing theatre. The combined skills and strengths of these very different ensembles have resulted in the unique spectacle Damsels in Garters, presented during the inauguration of this year’s Comedia dell’Arte Day. The tale follows three travellers: Prudence who is on the run from the executor of her debts, the young, irascible Claudia hoping to escape an unwanted marriage, and the young merchant Gonzaga hoping to fulfil his father’s dying wish. Their paths cross in the least expected place: in an ancient, abandoned inn which happens to be the hideout of a band of robbers… Things heat up when the moneylender reaches the inn in his pursuit of Prudence. Who will emerge victorious from this apparent fight for life and death? We’ll find out on 22 February. The spectacle is repeated on 25, 26 and 27 February at Praska 52 Theatre.

On 24 February, the organisers host a meeting with Jonathan Fröhlich, creator of leather masks for comedia dell’arte. The artist introduces different stages of the traditional Italian method of making masks and presents rarely shown carved wooden moulds.

On 26 and 27 February, we will see a family spectacle combining conventions of street puppet theatre and comedia dell’arte. The actors present all distinctive elements of dell’arte: traditional leather masks, characteristic movements, lazzi repertoire and elements of improvisation. They reach for scaled down traditional forms of a booth and puppets. The spectacle will be filled with jokes for the whole family!

Ready for your encounter with comedia dell’arte?

Justyna Skalska, „Karnet – Kraków Culture”