~ About ~
Ophaboom Theatre was the foremost English Commedia dell’ Arte company throughout the 1990‘s and the early 21st Century. This site documents the company’s history, and provides a valuable resource for students and teachers alike into the workings of a modern touring Commedia company.
In it’s earliest form, in 16th Century Italy, Commedia dell’ Arte married the rough entertainments of the traveling street peddlers with the classicism of Greco-Roman drama and the masks of the Venetian Carnival - using stock characters to create a vibrant, highly physical (and often subversively political) form of comedy theatre. Performed outdoors on high trestle stages in busy piazzas and market squares, Commedia was beloved by audiences across medieval and Renaissance Europe. It’s influence can be found in the works of Shakespeare, Moliere, Dario Fo, and other great European dramatists.
In it’s earliest form, in 16th Century Italy, Commedia dell’ Arte married the rough entertainments of the traveling street peddlers with the classicism of Greco-Roman drama and the masks of the Venetian Carnival - using stock characters to create a vibrant, highly physical (and often subversively political) form of comedy theatre. Performed outdoors on high trestle stages in busy piazzas and market squares, Commedia was beloved by audiences across medieval and Renaissance Europe. It’s influence can be found in the works of Shakespeare, Moliere, Dario Fo, and other great European dramatists.
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Drawing on Commedia’s origins, Ophaboom added a sprinkling of medieval and modern British theatre, to create a contemporary style, which resonated with audiences of all ages:
Jersey Evening Post, writing about Romeo and Juliet: “It makes you laugh from start to finish. It leaps agilely over barriers of age and language." |
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In its seventeen years, the company toured extensively throughout the British Isles, as well as across Europe, (performing in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, and once in Flemish), and as far a field as North America and Southeast Asia. Although the company did perform at times in traditional theatre spaces, it was also as often seen on their trestle stage at outdoor festivals on street corners, in village halls, in bowling alleys and many other less conventional venues.
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Using the themes and basic plots of familiar stories (Richard III, Robin Hood, Romeo and Juliet, Faustus, etc.) Ophaboom brought the trickster spirit of Commedia to audiences of the late 20th and early 21st Century, wherever they were.
On this website, you’ll find full videos of the Ophaboom shows in various languages, as well as taster clips to whet your appetite. As the site builds over the coming years, you’ll have access to downloadable PDF files of scripts in various languages, which can be used as study aids. We are building a dedicated ‘how to’ part of the site, which will explain our teaching methods in detail. |
We hope that you will enjoy the site, and find it both entertaining and informative. Please use the tabs at the top, or the buttons at the bottom of the page, to navigate to videos and information on our shows, teaching aids and more detailed history of the company.