International director Paolo Emilio Landi to discuss 'Commedia dell'Arte: Comedy Italian Style'

5:23 p.m., Oct. 3, 2013--Charlie Chaplin, Tyler Perry, Jerry Seinfeld and Ellen DeGeneres might seem like an unlikely quartet, but they do have something in common as performers. Their comic creativity harkens back to the original comedians of Italy’s Commedia dell’arte.

From improvisation, to dynamic movement, to specific characterizations, this Italian comedic form has influenced theatres and individual performers through the ages, and it will be the subject of a free public talk at 5:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 14 at the University of Delaware.

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Renowned theatre artist and director Paolo Emilio Landi will discuss “Commedia Dell’Arte: Comedy Italian Style” at 5:30 p.m. in Gore Recital Hall at the Roselle Center for the Arts.

Landi is currently at UD to direct the Resident Ensemble Players (REP) production of his adaptation of Carlo Goldoni’s The Servant of Two Masters, Nov. 14 - Dec. 8.

His lecture will focus on the specifics of Commedia dell’arte – the masks, improvisations and movement – and offer an introduction to Goldoni’s The Servant of Two Masters performance, while examining the nature of theatre and proposing a deeper understanding of the Italian identity and culture. Refreshments will be served after the lecture.

A translator and adapter of numerous plays, Landi is an international theatre director and has directed more than 50 productions in Italy, Russia, France, Germany and the United States. He is also a television journalist, presenter and documentarian with National State Television (RAIDUE). Based in Rome, Italy, he travels the world filming and directing plays in the local language.

His career in the Russian theatre led his production of Filumena Marturano (by Eduardo de Filippo, also known as Wedding Italian Style) to win the Russian Theatre Oscar. Landi speaks fluent Italian, English, Russian, and French.

This lecture is sponsored by the Italian Studies Program, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Department of Theatre, Department of English and the Office of the Provost.