Flavio and Isabella
The Innamorati are the romantic leads -- "Lovers" would be an accurate translation for their title. The male is the inamorato and the female is the inamorata.
The Commedia lovers were the only unmasked characters in the show. They were the plot engines behind the stories. Typically their story was what drove the father characters to war ; the zanni characters to create all kinds of crazy plots and tricks, and when all else failed, their joining is what would constitute the happy ending of the play. Very often they are son and daughter of the two old folks, Pantaloon the greedy and the Doctor.
They would traditionally be costumed in the most fashionable and most lavish outfits that the company could afford, though by the start of the 18th century one began to see them dressed more "theatrically" in outfits similar to those which were worn by Shakespearean actors of the time for plays like Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra.
The Lovers never wear the masks which are characteristic of most of the other stock characters in the commedia dell'arte. They do, however, wear a large amount of makeup and apply beauty marks to their faces.
The posture that the Lovers take on is that of strong pride. They point their toes while standing and puff up their chests. Overall, they lack contact with the ground and seem to float across the ground rather than take steps.Their hand movements and gestures are also very characteristic of the buoyant movements that their feet take on.
Their speech is very eloquent Tuscan, as they are of high social status. They are well-read in poetry and often recite it at length from memory, and even tend to sing quite often. Their language is full of flamboyant and lofty rhetoric so that most of what they say is not taken too seriously, by either the audience or the other characters.
Flavio is a gentle yet agile man, who like many of the other lovers, speaks softly in musical phrases. He is married to another from the innamorati, Isabella and his son is Arlecchino. When stationary, Flavio has his feet turned out and is full of breath in a flirtatious manner. He teeters when walking, uses presentational gestures and is very light and even sometimes unstable on his feet. This stock character is high of status as he is the pride and joy of the main family (usually Pantaloon) but it brought low by his hopeless infiltration.
Isabella, unlike Flavio, is graceful and sweet, who has a somewhat breathy, sweet and wishful voice. Her walk is soft and swishy however when stationary she is flirtatious and performs melodramatic, lover poses. She is high of status, has a servant (Columbina) and is usually the daughter of Pantaloon.
The Commedia lovers were the only unmasked characters in the show. They were the plot engines behind the stories. Typically their story was what drove the father characters to war ; the zanni characters to create all kinds of crazy plots and tricks, and when all else failed, their joining is what would constitute the happy ending of the play. Very often they are son and daughter of the two old folks, Pantaloon the greedy and the Doctor.
They would traditionally be costumed in the most fashionable and most lavish outfits that the company could afford, though by the start of the 18th century one began to see them dressed more "theatrically" in outfits similar to those which were worn by Shakespearean actors of the time for plays like Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra.
The Lovers never wear the masks which are characteristic of most of the other stock characters in the commedia dell'arte. They do, however, wear a large amount of makeup and apply beauty marks to their faces.
The posture that the Lovers take on is that of strong pride. They point their toes while standing and puff up their chests. Overall, they lack contact with the ground and seem to float across the ground rather than take steps.Their hand movements and gestures are also very characteristic of the buoyant movements that their feet take on.
Their speech is very eloquent Tuscan, as they are of high social status. They are well-read in poetry and often recite it at length from memory, and even tend to sing quite often. Their language is full of flamboyant and lofty rhetoric so that most of what they say is not taken too seriously, by either the audience or the other characters.
Flavio is a gentle yet agile man, who like many of the other lovers, speaks softly in musical phrases. He is married to another from the innamorati, Isabella and his son is Arlecchino. When stationary, Flavio has his feet turned out and is full of breath in a flirtatious manner. He teeters when walking, uses presentational gestures and is very light and even sometimes unstable on his feet. This stock character is high of status as he is the pride and joy of the main family (usually Pantaloon) but it brought low by his hopeless infiltration.
Isabella, unlike Flavio, is graceful and sweet, who has a somewhat breathy, sweet and wishful voice. Her walk is soft and swishy however when stationary she is flirtatious and performs melodramatic, lover poses. She is high of status, has a servant (Columbina) and is usually the daughter of Pantaloon.