"Pantalone – The Ice Flow Cometh"
Commedia Dell’Arte and Shakespeare.
This is a performance and talk presented by
Stephen LaFrenie --has been performing and teaching physical theatre for over 40 years...
and
Richard Beaune -- has performed in every province and territory across Canada in both official languages over a 30 year career...
The performance piece surrounds the classical Commedia character Pantalone, a greedy miser and at times senile old man. Pantalone is on the verge of dementia and wanting to prove to his daughter that he is still in control of his faculties. To achieve this he decides to audition for the role of King Lear. During the audition he slips in an out of dementia states confusing King Lear with his own life. The presentation is followed by a talk on Shakespeare, touching on the theme of madness in his works and Commedia’s influence on Shakespeare and theatre of his time. The talk is concluded with an extensive talk back session with the students on Shakespeare, how we see madness in art, how we perceive classical stock characters through a modern lens with the awareness of Alzheimer’s, dementia, and mental illness.