Burattino

Burattino, also Burrattino or Burratino, is a minor '' commedia dell'arte'' character of the zanni (or second zanni) class.

Name

In Italian burattino means " puppet", although it is not clear whether the ''commedia dell'arte'' character was called Burattino because he moved like a puppet or puppets acquired the name because of Burattino. Though only mildly popular on the stage, he found his real fame in the marionette theater. According to Pierre-Louis Duchartre, the puppet named Burattino became so popular in Italy, that "by the end of the sixteenth century, all marionettes operated by strings and a wire were called ''burattini'', instead of'' bagatelli'' or ''fantoccini'', as they had been known up to that time." Today, the Italian word ''burattino'' can also refer to a hand puppet.

Duchartre also reproduces two illustrations from 1594 with Burattino, in which he wears a costume similar to Zani's but with a characteristic flat round hat. Tommaso Garzoni (1549–1589) associates the character with a small cap called a ''berettino''. Richard Andrews suggests the two words may be related. The word ''berettino'' has also been used to refer to the ecclesiastical skullcap more commonly known as the ''zucchetto''.

Character

Burattino is one of three ''commedia dell'arte'' masks mentioned by Bartolomeo Rossi in the foreword to his 1584 comic pastoral play ''Fiammella'', as examples of low-life characters who speak the Bergamasque dialect (usually approximate), the other two being Pedrolino and Arlecchino. As a rustic dialect, it signaled the character's low social status and was used in Italian theatre into the 18th century.

Burattino is in 21 of the 50 scenarios of Flaminio Scala, published in 1611. He appears as a house servant, an innkeeper, a gardener, a peasant, a beggar, and a long-lost father. Like Pedrolino, Burrattino is extremely good natured. He is so trustworthy that, in the third of Scala's scenarios, "The Fortunate Isabella", the lone '' innamorata'' Isabella takes him along as her sole accompaniment on a journey across the country. When he later in the play believes (mistakenly) that Isabella has been kidnapped and raped, he weeps and laments at length.Scala & Salerno 1967, p. 29.

Notes

Bibliography

* Andrews, Richard (2008). ''The Commedia dell'Arte of Flamino Scala: A Translation and Analysis of 30 Scenarios''. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press. .
* Duchartre, Pierre-Louis (1929; Dover reprint 1966). ''The Italian Comedy'', translated by Randolph T. Weaver. London: George G. Harrap and Co., Ltd. (1929); New York: Dover (1966). .
* Garzoni, Tommaso (1589; Olschki reprint 1996). ''La Piazza Universale di tutte le professioni del mondo'', edited by Giovanni Battista Bronzini. Florence: Olschki. .
* Rossi, Bartolomeo (1584). ''Fiammella pastorale''. Paris: Abel L'Angelier
Copy
at Google Books.
* Rudlin, John (1994). ''Commedia dell’Arte, An actor’s handbook''. London: Routledge. .
* Scala, Flaminio; Salerno, Henry F., translator (1967). ''Scenarios of the Commedia dell'Arte: Flaminio Scala's Il Teatro delle Favole Rappresentative'', foreword by Kenneth McKee. New York: New York University Press. {{OCLC, 186077.

Stupid Zanni class characters