CARLENTINI – Third artistic appointment, at the “Turi Ferro” Theater in Carlentini, Friday 14th January 2022 with the Italian comedy par excellence, “La Bottega del caffè” by the great Carlo Goldoni.
On the stage a parade of artists, starting with the great Michele Placido, accompanied by: Luca Altavilla, Emanuele Fortunati, Ester Galazzi, Anna Gargano, Vito Lopriore, Francesco Migliaccio, Michelangelo Placido, Maria GraziaPlos.
The magnificent direction by Paolo Valerio, the sets by Marta CrisoliniMalatesta, the costumes by Stefano Nicolao, the lights by Gigi Saccomandi, the music by Antonio Di Pofi, the stage movements by Monica Codena, in co-production with the “Teatro Stabile” in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Goldenart Production and “Fondazione” in Tuscany (Italy).
Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni (Venice, 1707- Paris, 1793) inserted in an Enlightenment society, looking at life in its worldly dimension, far from any anxiety, rejects any form of metaphysics and acquires a philosophy of practical life, in relation to everyday problems , founded on common sense and the common good.
In fact, he embodies the typical values of bourgeois and mercantile society, that is the loyal citizen, as well as in the character of Ridolfo, wise, honest and altruistic owner of the café.
In reality, through his characters, Goldoni wants to create a peaceful balance between individual and family needs, seeking a compromise that can stop conflicts between classes and individuals, as happens on the scene of “La bottega del caffè”.
All the characters confront each other on the same level, face the same reality, share the same secrets, frequent the same places, such as the coffee shop and meet in the same place, the only scenic space: a small square in Venice. Each of them, representing a social individuality and not the typical stereotypical mask of the comedy of art, announces the transition from the latter to the comedy of character.
Each character with their own psychological insight, together with a real social context, enter the scene. Now, the theater is profoundly influenced by the contemporary socio-cultural reality, Goldoni’s comedy becomes the image of ordinary people, with their defects, errors and secrects.
The influence of Enlightenment rationalism will convince Goldoni to choose the daily news as the true protagonist.
Therefore, from the perspective of Carlo Goldoni, we can glimpse a society without distance between social classes, the aristocracy in crisis, the Noble Lord Don Marzio, an example of the parasitism, idleness and waste of the aristocracy, talks with a bourgeois. Moreover, the author creates a strong comparison between the moral honesty of the bourgeois and the slander, hypocrisy, gossip and superficiality of the nobility. Hence, the need to describe the pride of the nobles with irony, adding a hint of good sarcasm.
All this occupies the central part of the work and the scene, where all the lines of the characters’ life are tangled, twisted and filtered by an evil vision of hidden truths.
In the end, the one who will be pointed out by everyone as a nosy and manipulator, will actually be the one who will have revealed the uncomfortable truths.
So, with an ironic tone and a hint of sarcasm, Carlo Goldoni will nominate Don Marzio as a character who promotes the truth.
The audience will have picked up the socio-moral message, blaming the central character with a smile on their lips, because they will have laughed and amused by the language and comic ways, perfectly sewn on the protagonist of the Venetian coffee shop.
