The commedia dell’arte stock character I chose was Comico or the chief comic. Comico is the liaison between the actors and the audience; he explains to the audience the plot or just talks to tem in-between scenes. Not only does he relate to the audience, but he also relates to the other stock characters. If the show seems to be lagging Comico will jump to add some humor, or start a fight with his fancy stick that he is never seen without. Outside and in the show you can see him acting as a mixture between a stage manager and a director making sure that everyone is in line. In a way Comico could also be considered a stand up comedian. If something were to go wrong with the cast or back stage, he would engage the audience in a story or jokes to keep their attention until the problem was fixed. Comico is very flashy in his physical appearance almost like a Vegas showgirl. His stance is full of confidence, arrogance and attempts to show his higher rank in class. This stock character tends to normally not be masked, however if he is his mask is gold with a bird like nose.
While researching my mask for Comico I noticed that there was minimal information for him online. I could find masks with bird like noses, but since his was to resemble a swan or an eagle I looked up images of the birds themselves. When making this piece I started with a full face mask and cut away different parts of he face that I didn’t need. I paper mached the front of the bought mask to add more force and structure for the nose piece. I tried to shape the bird nose by going straight across the mask and filling in the under space with newspaper. I let the mask dry over night and repeated the steps a second time the following night. On the second night of I added eyebrows to the mask. I was inspired o do pointy eyebrows from the pictures of the birds I looked up. The feathers on top of a birds head tend to stand and I imagined that’s what his eyebrows would look like. If they were any other shape, such as big bushy eyebrows it wouldn’t make sense to him being connected to the swan or eagle. When I was ready to paint my mask I covered it with two layers of white spray paint and after that dried I gave it a few coats of gold spray paint. For the finishing touches I added nose slots like ones you would see on a bird’s bill.
This mask is “authentic” by the large bird bill for a nose and the color of the mask. It was clarified that when Comico did wear a mask it was always gold. The mask was not authentic by the materials used to make it such as paper mache (water and flour), duct tape, plastic mask, and spray paint. Though gold leather was not available to create this mask I think the materials used did suffice for the project.
