Harlequin and the Green Dress by Laura Fischetto, illustrated by Letizia Galli, 1994.

What I love about this book is that it’s a fun introduction to commedia del arte and its stock characters! A figure that looks like Charlie Chaplin holds a card that summons readers like guests to a play and introduces our characters like this:

• Columbine – “a scheming maid …”
• Harlequin – “a sly servant …”
• Pantalone – “a stingy old man …”
• Punch – “who now heaves a hungry sigh …”
• Rosaura – “a lady fair …”
• The Doctor – “a menace … and”
• Florindo – “a handsome knight.”

There is going to be a costume ball. Rosaura, a wealthy young lady, has a beautiful green dress to wear, but she is unhappy because her father, Pantalone, refuses to let her marry the man she loves, Florindo. Florindo is a poor knight, and Pantalone hopes that Rosaura will meet a wealthier suitor at the costume ball.

Meanwhile, Rosaura’s maid, Columbine, wishes that she had a beautiful dress so that she could go to the costume ball herself. She thinks that, if she went to the ball, she might also meet a rich man.

Harlequin is in love with Columbine, and he wants to do something that would impress her. He decides to borrow Rosaura’s dress and give it to Columbine as an anonymous gift so that Columbine can to go to the ball, but unbeknowst to him, Florindo is coming up with a scheme that will allow Rosaura to run away with him and get married. Florindo enlists his servant, Punch, to pretend to kidnap Rosaura, to provide a reason for her sudden disappearance. He tells Punch that he will know Rosaura at the ball because of her magnificent green dress, not knowing that Columbine has already received the dress from Harlequin and is wearing it at the ball.

Chaos ensues when Punch abducts Columbine, thinking that it’s Rosaura and that she’s just playing along with Florindo’s plan. When Punch says that he’s taking her to her suitor, Columbine assumes that he’s taking her to the secret admirer who gave her the dress.

In the meantime, poor Rosaura is having hysterics because she can’t find her dress and can’t go to meet her suitor. When Harlequin discovers what a mess all the scheming has caused, he comes up with another scheme to straighten out everything. Can he reunite Rosaura with Florindo, convince Pantalone to allow their marriage to take place, make her that Punch gets all the snacks he wants, and make things right with Columbine?

My Reaction

I love books that introduce lesser-known topics, and I imagine that few young readers would know anything about commedia del arte. For kids who are old enough to appreciate a little theatrical history and expand their cultural horizons, this is a fun introduction to an art form that they may have never seen before!

My first introduction to the stock characters was in Agatha Christie movies because Agatha Christie was fond of commedia del arte and put references to it into some of her stories, like The Affair of the Victory Ball. There is a section at the back of this book that explains the historical background of this type of theater and more about the characteristics of the stock characters.

I did think that the story in the book jumped around oddly in some places, and the role of The Doctor wasn’t very well explained. I think part of the reason was that the action would be easier to understand if we were watching it on stage rather than reading it in a book. The pictures are also chaotic and a little difficult to follow. I think they’re meant to convey the shifting scenes and the fast and chaotic movements of the characters as they go about their various schemes. The story itself is meant to be chaotic and action-filled because of all the characters’ schemes and counter-schemes. The action and visual jokes would probably make more sense seeing them performed rather than hearing them described.

I did like the part at the end, where we see the actors taking their bows and some of them removing their masks because the story was a play the entire time. The story isn’t meant for readers to see the characters as real people and events that are actually taking place. It’s all been a stage play the entire time. The pictures also indicate that it was always a play, with its flat scenery, objects at strange angles, and characters that seem to be separated from each other by thin walls. It’s all a bit unreal because it is unreal.

To get around some of the chaotic nature of the story and make it more fun for kids, I think this is a good book to read aloud with a lot of enthusiasm and maybe even act out rather than just telling it, encouraging young listeners to get involved in the story and the imaginary world of the theater.