What: Harlequin: Servant of Two Masters
Where and when: Aotea Centre, October 1-3
An overcast Friday night in Auckland at 9pm and a balmy late summer day in Milan at 11am; an interviewer who speaks no Italian and an interviewee, theatrical maestro Ferrucio Soleri, who knows little English, talking, via interpreter and actor Stefano Guizzi, over the telephone.
Little is lost in translation, which should not surprise Guizzi and Soleri because the two men are adept at breaking down communication barriers and making people the world over laugh.
Soleri, at age 80, has been doing it for more than four decades, an octogenarian still doing acrobatics.
He and Guizzi roam the globe, with a cast of 20 and a half-dozen musicians, with Piccolo Teatro di Milano (The Little Theatre of Milan) performing Harlequin: Servant of Two Masters. Now for the first time in its 52-year history, Piccolo Teatro di Milano comes to Auckland to give the rare opportunity to see a theatre group regarded as the Italian equal of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The visit helps keep alive an art form which transcends cultural, geographical and chronological boundaries: commedia dell'arte, a form of improvisational theatre that uses gestures, actions and acrobatics.
Commedia dell'arte is thought to have started in Italy, probably during Roman times. While it died off during the Middle Ages, it was revived during the Renaissance and is now regarded as the artistic ancestor of modern comedy.
Its combination of farce, slapstick and physical comedy and its themes of thwarted love, mistaken identity and crafty servants outwitting their masters are repeated in work by the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Abbott and Costello, the Marx Brothers, Benny Hill and even Homer Simpson.
The central characters are called "zanni", the forebears of modern-day clowns _ and the origin of the English word zany, meaning offbeat or foolish. The zanni make us laugh, says Soleri, because of their exaggerated facial expressions, inflated body movements and wild gestures.
Since its formation in 1947, Piccolo Teatro has gained global acclaim for its staging of Harlequin: Servant of Two Masters, written by Carlo Goldoni in 1745. Like traditional commedia dell'arte, actors use brightly coloured costumes and breathtaking masks _ but few props _ to tell their story.
Harlequin is perhaps the best known of the zanni _ his trademark mask and diamond-shaped patchwork costume have survived into modern pop culture (and sports club livery). He is a wily trickster with a constant urge to fill his pockets and his stomach so he becomes the servant of two masters and must use all his cunning and guile to stay one step ahead of them. Soleri joined the company in 1957 and has perfected the role of Harlequin, performing in 200 cities in 40 countries over the course of his career. He chuckles when asked if he gets bored answering questions about his age and whether he tires of the role, saying he expects to talk about it because it is normal for people to be interested in an 80-year-old still clowning around.
"As long as my body and breath can put the energy that is needed into the show, I will keep putting into the show," he says. "When my body tells me it is time to stop, I will stop."
For the moment, Soleri intends sticking to his daily exercise regime which includes an hour of stretches and stair-climbing for aerobic fitness to keep fit and flexible. He says keeping performances fresh is no problem because of the improvisational nature of the show and the fact that audiences in each new place respond in their own way. He uses this energy to shape and influence individual performances and adds that he is a keen observer of life "metabolising" experiences so they may one day be called into the service of a performance.
He says he is interested to see how New Zealand audiences respond and what the country, renowned for its natural beauty, really does look like. He adds that it does not matter that we do not speak the same language because Harlequin relies more on gestures and movement.
"The body gestures can be translated to gain an understanding of what the characters are saying," he says. "Public understanding comes not only from speech but from situations, the relationship between the characters and the gestures.
"People laugh, too, because they relate to the stories which were written not for the nobles in a society but for the servants, the ordinary people. Every place in the world, you have that relationship between servants and masters; you have the same sentiments, love and hunger.
"Harlequin comes from outside of Venice and he has no one else so he has to rely on himself, his intelligence, to think about how he can make it and have success in the world. That is something we all know."
Guizzi can vouch for that. He was just 7 years old when his parents took him to see Harlequin: Servant of Two Masters in Paris.
Ten years later in 1987, when he auditioned for Piccolo Teatro di Milano, the company was doing the show again under the direction of its founder, Giorgio Strehler. When Guizzi began touring with Piccolo Teatro, it was in Harlequin and he has since played the parts of Brighella, Silvius, Florindo, trousers and prompter.
He admits to being surprised by how much of the show his 7-year-old self laughed at.
"There was a scene where Harlequin gets a letter stuck to his butt and asks someone where it was; then I knew it was okay to laugh."
