Pagliaccio
Pagliaccio is a figure from the Italian Commedia dell'arte and, along with Arlecchino and Brighella, belongs to the Zanni or Zanoni, the servant figures. The word is derived from the Italian bajaccia for "mockery" or bajaccio for "mocker".
It was used as a counterweight to the dark-faced, hence devilish Pulcinella . Originally clumsy and stupid (another possible origin of the name is the French paille hachée for "chopped straw"), tending to imitate other figures, this mask developed more and more romantic traits over time, even if he (not only) in courtship to the "lady of the heart" draws the short straw. A related mask in the Commedia dell'arte is Pedrolino , a rather loyal and honest servant figure.
In his mostly oversized white robe, he and Pedrolino are considered to be one of the forerunners of Pierrot , as Jean-Louis Barrault portrayed him as a pantomime in the film Children of Olympus after this character had developed further in the French theater and refined and refined by Jean-Gaspard Deburau adapted to the Parisian taste.
literature
- Karl Riha : Commedia dell'arte. With the figurines of Maurice Sands. Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1980 a. a., ISBN 978-3-458-19007-3
See also
Web links
- Zap A Lot Theater (to the mask of Pedrolino and some others)