Zanni
Costume Mask
Movement
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Zanni
(the name is where we get our word "zany") is a servant character who serves
either Pantalone, Dottore,
or Capitano. He never does well at his
job, since all he thinks about is food or sleep. Often, he is distracted
while on a mission, after hearing the name of a fruit--or after falling
asleep. Zanni is stupid, poor, and slow, and therefore is the lowest
character on the social scale. For a modern equivalent, think of
Homer Simpson and his preoccupation with food.
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Zanni's costume
usually consists of a baggy white jumpsuit or shirt-and-pants outfit, since
he is too poor to afford anything else.
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His mask
(as
you can see from the picture above) has a wrinkled forehead with low eyebrows,
giving him a stupid appearance. He also has a very big, wide nose
with nose hair. The larger the nose, the stupider the Zanni.
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Zanni's movements
are very big, broad, and exaggerated. He leads his body with his
head and nose (his nose sticks out way in front of the rest of his body,
and wherever his head goes, his body follows). Because Zanni is used
to carrying heavy sacks and such on his back, his back is arched, and he
stands with one leg in front of himself for balance. When listening
to his master or other characters, his feet and legs are constantly moving,
even though the rest of his body is still. When he does go somewhere,
he is very quick, always changing directions. When Zanni sleeps (which
he does very often, and onstage), he does so standing on one leg, with
his other leg crossed over his knee. He props his elbow on his knee,
and holds his chin in the supported hand. While sleeping, Zanni makes
lots of noise snoring, belching, snorting, and farting.