Commedia Dell’Arte Scenes: The Lazzi of the Sandwich

Students in the FLHS Acting Lab course have been studying Commedia Dell’Arte. Every Commedia actor has a number of lazzi in their repertoire. A lazzi is a physical comedic bit in the middle of the play, unrelated to the plot. The three main themes for Commedia are love, money and food in the extreme – so that means lazzi are also taken to the extreme. They are acrobatic and exaggerated.

In these scenes, students were given the following lazzi to prepare as a master (high status) and servant (low status) character:

Your character enters a room. On a table in the centre of the room, there is a beautiful sandwich. It has a number of layers. It smells delicious. It looks perfect. It does not belong to your character, but you are so hungry and you want that sandwich. In character, examine the room. Is the owner of the sandwich nearby? You approach the sandwich. Interact with the sandwich. And eat the sandwich. You look around the room and leave.

Kyla Simkhai - Master and Servant Performance

School: Fox Lane High School