ADA - Context and creating Humour.
ADA Context.
Social Context.
- On the 12th December 1969 a bomb is detonated in Piazza Fontana in Milan. Giseuppe Pinelli (a railway man) is taken in for questioning and falls to his death from a police window. Death titled accidental. Public shitstorm.
- Luigi Calabresi is the real life version of Pissani. He rubs his hands and wears big sports jackets. He was in the press a lot for looking very guilty in the trials, which were ongoing when the pay was first being performed.
Historical / Political Context.
- The aftermath of Mussilini's faccist Italy had left the country very economically divided. The north (where Milan is) was much much richer than the south due to economic bases of the faccists being left there. This meant the north was pro-faccist and the south pro-communist with anarchists sprinkled throughout. This divide led to the hot autumn protests at the end of the 1960s where anarchists in the south, sick of being poorer, led protests into the north. This is good context for maniac's politics.
- The Italian economic miracle is the period of time from 1958-1963 where enormous economic growth took place as Italy rebuilt herself after the second world war. This left clear social hierarchy chains as some people were left behind. Use this context on the Constable who is left behind as the work horse of the group.
Cultural Context.
Fo was Italian and fundamentally ADA is a Commedia del'Arte play - it uses physical theatre to ridicule and villanise those in power. The characters in ADA to draw on CdA themes are:
- Maniac - Arrlechino.
- Pissano - Il Capitano.
- Constable - Zanni.
- Superintendent - Brighella.
- Bertozzo - El Dottore / Brighella.
- Feletti - Arrlechino.
Creating Humour.
ADA is fundamentally a comedy so lots of the analysis should come back to the fact that you are trying to make people laugh. This is done in three main ways - almost all funny things link to:
Superiority Theory.
We laugh at those less fortunate than us. Anytime somebody is in trouble or going wrong we laugh at them because we are subconsciously glad it isn't us. Practically every Constable moment uses this.
Relief Theory.
Moments of very high tension lead us to feel uncomfortable and tense. We laugh to relieve us of this tension. This works on lots of inappropriate emotions, for example being happy in a sad place. When the mean police lot are angry this works.
Incongruity Theory.
What you see or hear from one character or thing is wildly and absurdly out of place with the rest of the setting lead to comedy. This works best on maniac costumes.
Year 7 New Parents Speech.
Good evening and welcome to Skinners, my name is George Russell-Ross and, as one of your sons will be, I have the privilege of being the head Prefect here.
This is my first real speech in this role and as such, Mr Wesson gave me various pieces of advice – only some of which I listened to. One of the things that stuck out though was a simple question. He asked "What was your skinners experience?". This speech then is dedicated to answering that question.
First, my Skinners experience was kind. Your son will have an induction day into Skinners in late august of this year, 6 years to the day since I had mine. I remember an acute and overwhelming feeling of dread walking into Skinners for the first time. A feeling not helped by the fact that I came alone from my primary school – unlike many of my classmates who already knew others in the year, I knew absolutely no one. I vividly recall running my eyes across the lists of names in the 5 houses- desperate to pick out someone I knew, however distantly. No such luck.
The fear and dread I felt lasted approximately 4 minutes. And in those 4 minutes I learnt a great deal about the kind of school Skinners is. Or more accurately I learnt that Skinners is a kind school. What do I mean by this? As Raktivist (the random acts of kindness charity) once said:
"Kindness is helping those who think they are alone in this world."
As an 11-year-old boy walking with trepidation through the school gates I certainly felt alone. But the 6 years of kindness my classmates, form prefects, form tutors, heads of years, sports coaches, subject teachers and many more showed me has made me the Head Prefect you see before you today. It is as Head Prefect then, that I say this: your son will receive the same kind treatment I did and grow in the same way.
Second, my Skinners experience was filled with opportunity. The various academic opportunities and successes of the school are of course important but it's not my place or my desire to talk of them today. The opportunity I speak of him happens outside the classroom.
It is in the astounding number of after school clubs: anything from engineering to table tennis to Dungeons and Dragon.
It is in countless school trips. I have watched waterfalls in Iceland, played cricket in Dubai and eaten pretzels in the Christmas markets of Bonn.
It is in the truly hilarious number of year 7 rugby teams – my year had u12 rugby teams from A – G.
It is in the enormous range of theatre productions put on each year.