STATUS

Zanni is the lowest on the social ladder. He is the poorest, stupidest, and hungriestservant imaginable. He serves either Il Dottore, Il Capitano or Pantalone and never does a good job. Sleeping on the job, sneaking off to eat food, or daydreaming, Zanni cannot do what he is told very well at all. He is driven by sex and hunger.

COSTUME

Because Zanni is so poor, he wears very simple clothing. Usually he is dressed in a baggy white outfit.

MASK

Zanni has a furled brow and an extraordinarily large nose. His eyebrows are low giving him a dull, stupid appearance. The longer the nose, the stupider the Zanni.

MOVEMENT

Zanni's movements are very exaggerated and his head sticks out seperately from the movements of his body. His nose points to the subject of interest. Zannis with smaller noses are quicker witted (but still terribly dumb) and can do acrobatics. With a very low center of gravity, his lower back is arched with all the weight on one bent leg. The other leg is pointed out in front of him. His legs are always changing back and forth from bent to straight as he listens without moving his head . Zanni sleeps all the time and does this by standing on one leg and crosses his other leg over his knee. Zanni props his head on his arm on his knee and goes to sleep making lots of noise (belching, farting, snoring, etc). Zanni's actions are very urgent and pressing. He seems nervous and his nose is the center of his actions.

GESTURES

Zanni has little control of his body. Sometimes limbs will become "possessed" and start acting up all by themselves contrary to Zanni's knowledge. He is always hungry and sees the possibility of food in anything. His imagination is influenced by his insatiable appetite. Zanni is stupid, foolish, has limited self-awareness but is very loyal. In many ways he is like a dog.

PLOT FUNCTION

Zanni carries the plot along and confuses it by messing up. His attempts to complete a task lead to something going awry. The forays into his imagination are quite comical. They are called lazzi.