Entry by Roselyn Rodriguez: Costume Design for Clarice

One of my favorite parts of learning about theatre history had been learning about eighteenth- century European theatre and all of the theatrical genres such as comic theatre. On of the more popular plays at this time that we went over in class was “The Servant Of two Masters” which was Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni early works written in this commedia style in theatre. Pictured above, is a character in this play named “Clarice” who is the daughter of Pantalone who is described as a clever, rapacious, but frequently deceived merchant. The artifact that is shown in the picture above is Clarice's costume from the Berkeley Summer Theatre's production of "The Servant of Two Masters" from 1986. The artist that drew this description is unknown, but we can see that it was colored with color pencil, maybe even a marker. The dress itself reminds me of a traditional servant dress. It has ruffles at the bottom and at the top of the dress. The costume also includes high laced-up dance shoes and a bow tied at the waist. My favorite part about this character’s costume is her hat and her hairstyle. Her hairstyle seems to be several twists and her hat has a bow coming down from the back side of it. What I enjoy about this artifact that is different from other artifacts that I have come across is the different perspectives that it shows, for example, the author drew the different frowns the character does and her side profile. Not only that, but there are also annotations included in several parts of the artifact. Although we cannot see what these annotations say, considering where they are written, they give a little explanation on each part of her costume. Overall, this author did a great job giving a brief description of Clarice because they were able to give us a deeper view on the character itself.

Author: Roselyn Rodriguez