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A ship, the Commedia dell'Arte's vessel, is stranded on the shore. All around the relic lie sleeping comedians. It is no longer possible for them to venture on the waters of their comedies and maybe they just don't have the desire to do so anymore. Sebastiana, the ship's figurehead, awakes and tries to make the others rise. As you might know, figureheads are wooden sculptures representing either a god, a mythical creature or a human being, mostly a woman, placed at the front of a ship as ornament or mascot. Sebastiana awakes the comedians speaking to them either in italian or in gaelic &endash; an antique language that evokes northern sailors &endash; and urges them to set sail towards new stories, stories of nowadays. The tale of thousands of people that even this very moment have no choice but to cross the ocean to escape hunger and misery. The comedians get ready and put on their masks and costumes, but they are obviously bored and the Commedia dell'Arte play seems just the dusty vestige of a bygone theatre that long ago was great. But as the performance goes on, the actors remember the old rules of the comical art and their boredom is soon replaced by newly found enthusiasm. Nevertheless, an unexpected sadness goes through the play. The arabin Arlecchino and russian Colombina &endash; two emigrants searching for a peaceful beach to land upon &endash; don't always have happy stories to tell. But laughter must not disappear. The Dottore, Arlecchino and Colombina get together and plot yet another of the innumerable farces that the rich but naive venitian merchant Pantalone always falls for. The farce, based on one of Boccaccio's Decamerone tales, succeeds: one of Pantalone's dearly beloved hens is put in the oven. But the play does not end with the general reconciliation as Commedia dell'Arte farces usually do. The only ones that can sit down to dine are the noblemen: Pantalone and the Dottore. Arlecchino and Colombina look on with watery mouths. This is a brief account of what happens in the Teatro Paravento's new production. Full of a strong although tender irony towards Commedia dell'Arte, the show is an attempt to conciliate classical comical techniques with the evergrowing desire of representing the modern world's realities. |
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Send us an email by clicking here: associazione@teatro-paravento.ch
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