‘The Breath of Love’
Unscrupulous masters, artful servants, the dead and … the undead
The year is 1590 and the wind of change is blowing through the field of knowledge. Doctor Leglimbo, renowned alchemist, is on the brink of a profound discovery – a divine elixir that will open Death’s door and guide the departed back into the light. Missing a key component, he enlists his hapless servant Harlequin to capture the vital vapour … But, when love is in the air and everyone is out to get rich, who knows where their greed will take them?
The Breath of Love (2017-2020) was devised as an immersive Commedia dell’Arte performance-workshop experience, transporting students back to Renaissance Italy to watch an authentic troupe of players perform a traditional style scenario and then take part in an exhilarating workshop to explore the style further. The video on this page is our 30 minute version, recorded in February 2020 to celebrate International Commedia dell’Arte Day at the London Commedia Festival 2020.
What People Said:
“A charming and slick show, demonstrating one of Commedia dell’Arte’s strengths: the ability to create laughter and entertainment from the flimsiest of plots. The skill of the two lead actors, switching between roles, bewitches and beguiles, and in this they are ably assisted by Zanni, their omnipresent servant. It is a credit to the actors’ alertness and comic skills that they incorporated several unforeseen accidents into the show (when I saw it), something many other companies would baulk at.”
“The perfect balance between watching and learning, and letting students get involved. It was a really excellent workshop. It was also great that you all seemed to have such good control of a large number of children.”
“We got to learn how real practitioners work in Commedia and seeing it performed in front of me made it way more understandable”
“Confident, fast-paced and very funny”
“There is really no substitute, when teaching commedia dell’arte, for seeing it enacted live. A very professional, participatory and educational session”
