OVERVIEW

Laughing is good for health, which is a social good: one would say that Aristotle, with “catharsis”, also included this short circuit, this collapse of our ghosts which down the centuries has been for the polis matter of embarrassment and censorship much more than the heroic acceptance of destiny (tragedy); from mythology to the star system, from the Ancient Comedy to the stand-up comedy, the comic effect  manifests itself in theatre, even before as regression or wit, as an irresistible behavior of shared demystification.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course, through a rich and articulated theory of exempla, aims to train students to appreciate the mechanisms of theatrical comedy, understood as a physical act and a relationship behavior, player presence and show project; empirical science that perhaps hides within itself the very secret of the historical and functional genesis of theater.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

In particular, the teaching aims to develop in students some skills in relation to theatrical comedy, an objective and shared opportunity for physical well-being and social rebalancing.

At the end of the course the student is expected to have the ability to:

reflect on the causes, mechanisms and consequences of laughter, at an individual and social level;

distinguish between humor and comedy (word and action), in a historical and current perspective;

recognize the contribution of sharing between spectators in the comic effect;

appreciate the political role of the carnival dynamics of lowering and/or reversal;

develop sensitivity to the function of rhythm.

Students with disabilities or DSAs are reminded that in order to request adaptations in the exam, they must first enter their certification on the University website at servizionline.unige.it in the "Students" section. The documentation will be verified by the University's Services for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities and DSA Sector (https://rubrica.unige.it/strutture/struttura/100111). Subsequently, at least 10 days before the date of the exam, an e-mail must be sent to the teacher with whom you will take the exam, including in the knowledge copy both the School's Teacher Referent for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities and with DSA (Prof. Elisabetta Colagrossi: elisabetta.colagrossi@unige.it) and the Sector indicated above. The e-mail should specify: the name of the teaching; the date of the call; the student's last name, first name and roll number; the compensatory tools and dispensatory measures deemed functional; and required.  The contact person will confirm to the lecturer that the applicant is entitled to apply for adaptations in the examination and that these adaptations must be agreed upon with the lecturer. The lecturer will respond by informing whether the requested adaptations can be used. Requests should be sent at least 10 days before the date of the call in order to allow the lecturer(s) to evaluate the content. In particular, in case you intend to make use of maps conceptual maps for the exam (which must be much more concise than the maps used for studying) if the submission does not meet the deadline there will not be the technical time needed to make any changes.

PREREQUISITES

Elementary knowledge of theatre history.

TEACHING METHODS

Live lessons, with the aid of audiovisual material.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Looking at and commenting on the theatrical performances of great comic actors, we’ll talk about experiences (Petrolini, Govi, Totò, Grock, Moretti, Fo, Benigni, Proietti, others), techniques (physical and verbal comedy: entrées and stunts; grammelot and “bad words”; the mask), comic topoi (among all the descensus ad infera at the origins of the professional theater, from the fools to the Harlequin devil); but also about ideas (Baudelaire, Freud, Bergson, Pirandello, Bataille, Bachtin, Brecht) and a short history (from the Commedia dell'Arte to the proliferation in puppets, in the circus, in the cabaret, in the beginning cinema); with brief hints to the contribution of writing (the “comedy”: from Aristophanes to Michael Frayn).

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mandatory texts for 6 CFU

M. Bachtin, L’opera di Rabelais e la cultura popolare, Torino, Einaudi, 1979

C. G. Jung, P. Radin, K. Kerenyi, Il briccone divino, Milano, Bompiani, 1979

Roberto Cuppone (a cura di), Pensare il teatro. Testi di Fabrizio Cruciani, Claudio Meldolesi, Franco Ruffini, Ferdinando Taviani, Pisa, Titivillus, 2024

Mandatory texts for 9 CFU

M. Bachtin, L’opera di Rabelais e la cultura popolare, Torino, Einaudi, 1979

C. G. Jung, P. Radin, K. Kerenyi, Il briccone divino, Milano, Bompiani, 1979

Roberto Cuppone (a cura di), Pensare il teatro. Testi di Fabrizio Cruciani, Claudio Meldolesi, Franco Ruffini, Ferdinando Taviani, Pisa, Titivillus, 2024

G. Celati, Dai giganti buffoni alla coscienza infelice; Il tema del doppio parodico; Su Beckett, l’interpolazione e il gag; three essays in Id., Finzioni occidentali. Fabulazione, comicità e scrittura, Torino, Einaudi, 1975, pp. 53-194 (o edd. segg.)

For non-attending students: a text of your choice among the following recommended is required:

Aristofane, Le donne alle Tesmoforie; Plauto, Pseudolo; Adam de la Halle, Le jeu d’Adam; Ruzante, Betìa; Flaminio Scala, Il Teatro delle favole rappresentative (raccolta di canovacci); Carlo Gozzi, Re Cervo; Georges Feydeau, Maurice Desvallières, L'albergo del libero scambio (L’hôtel du libre échange); Tristan Rémy, Entrate clownesche (Entrées clownesques); Ettore Petrolini, Teatro; Eduardo De Filippo, Sik sik artefice magico; Samuel Beckett, Aspettando Godot; Dario Fo, Mistero buffo; Michael Frayn, Rumori fuori scena (Noises off)

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

ROBERTO CUPPONE (President)

ANGELA ZINNO

ESTER FUOCO (Substitute)

ROBERTO TROVATO (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

1st October 2024

Class schedule

COMIC THEATER

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The evaluation will be in equal parts (3/3) a) on learning the informative contents of the prescribed texts, b) on the ability to critically process their contents, and c) on the personal in-depth study.

FURTHER INFORMATION

It is recommended to contact the teacher for bibliographic indications or materials related to the lessons; to solve any problems in the availability of texts; to agree on motivated changes to the program.