IL SERVITORE DI DUE PADRONI

 IL SERVITORE DI DUE PADRONI
The Servant of Two Masters
based on The Servant of Two Masters
by Carlo Goldoni
dramaturgy Ken Ponzio
direction Antonio Latella
with (in a. o.) Marco Cacciola, Federica Fracassi, Giovanni Franzoni, Roberto Latini,
Annibale Pavone, Lucia Peraza Rios, Massimiliano Speziani, Rosario Tedesco,
Elisabetta Valgoi
scenes and costumes Annelisa Zaccheria
lights Robert John Resteghini
sound Franco Visioli
assistant to the direction Brunella Giolivo
production Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione, Fondazione Teatro Metastasio di Prato,
Teatro Stabile del Veneto
This play, which sees Antonio Latella start again “from” Goldoni, is the product of a
close collaboration between three Public Theatres. “From” Goldoni, as Latella explains,
because this Servitore is a complete rewrite that aims to draw strength from the
Italian tradition in order to go forth, reaching out to the future. For Latella, addressing
a contemporary man with the power of tradition is more a question of duty than
necessity, and in his director’s notes he writes: “Falsehood is a theme that truly
belongs to this comedy. Behind the figure of Harlequin (Truffaldino) the comedy hides
from itself, it lies. Behind all the deception, leaps and tumbles of the world’s most
famous servant, the comedy deceives the audience: the character that makes them
laugh so heartily represents all the lies and nuances of the other characters. He is a
sort of decoy, shifting the attention of the entire comedy. No character is honest,
everything is false, it is a trade, selling souls and sentiment (…) What is left? A void,
discernible in the mocking smile of the stock characters. (…) A void that is perhaps
the horror of modern-day existence. The horror of man who, faced with the burden of
money, is diminished (…)”
Ken Ponzio, that signs the dramaturgy, confirms: "It is still all about money, after all.
Perhaps not. Perhaps it is about love, a love that has been commercialized or idealized
or hidden, even; love that must be freed by those who do not live their lives according
to conventional rules, who do not conform. And so we witness the slow destruction of
a world built on lies; the masks melt away, the flesh is stripped from the characters
and their bones are cremated, to get back to the origins of everything.
Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione – Teatro Stabile Pubblico Regionale, Sede Legale: Teatro Storchi, Largo Garibaldi 15, 41124 Modena. Sede Organizzativa: Via Ganaceto, 129 ‐ 41121, Modena Centralino: Tel. 059 2136011, Biglietteria:. 059 2136021, e‐mail: [email protected] C.F. e P.IVA 01989060361 But like a phoenix, they are reborn to pay tribute to Goldoni."
With the unmistakable style of his direction, Latella invites the audience to participate
in an endless reflection on the present day which this time probes the profound origins
of Italian culture, if it’s true that, as he claims, "Harlequin is our Hamlet".
Interview with Antonio Latella
by Patrizia Bologna
Il servitore di due padroni (The Servant of Two Masters) is the third chapter
in your tetralogy dealing with the theme of lies. After A. H. based on the
figure of Adolf Hitler, and the recent Viennese debut of Die Wohlgesinnten
adapted from the book by Jonathan Littell, in January you’ll be in Russia
working on Peer Gynt. But let’s return to your Servitore. It is always difficult
for a director to talk about a play just a few weeks from opening night. So
let’s start by talking about what it was that compelled you once again to
challenge yourself with another work by Carlo Goldoni, following your
previous experience in 2008, when you staged La trilogia della villeggiatura
(The Holiday Trilogy), in a rewrite by you and Letizia Russo. Why another
work on Goldoni and why Il servitore di due padroni in particular?
I have to say, in this case it was more the relationship with tradition that fascinated
me, rather than Goldoni himself. Generally speaking, I wanted to reflect on Italian
theatrical tradition and Il servitore di due padroni is a text that lends itself ideally to
this. (…)
Something tells me that the tradition you refer to will be the subject of
radical deconstruction. But let’s start from the text: the play has been written
by Ken Ponzio, a playwright you previously worked with on the project
Auguri e figli maschi! when you were artistic director of the Nuovo Teatro
Nuovo in Naples. What made you choose Ponzio?
What I like most about Ken’s work is his minimalistic style, the constant pursuit of the
essential. This gift for brevity probably derives from his great passion for English
drama.
In addition, what also intrigues me is that before becoming a playwright, Ken was an
actor. So he is only too aware that the words he writes will have to be “spoken”, lived
out on stage... interpreted. (…)
We changed the dynamics of the relationship between Harlequin and Beatrice: he is
no longer her servant, but her brother, the character called Federigo Rasponi in the
original Goldoni play, who is absent, having been killed in an impassioned duel. From
here, we introduced the theme of incest, exploiting the ambivalence – already present
in the original – of the character of Beatrice.
More generally, I encouraged Ken to work on certain aspects of the poetry of Heiner
Müller, in particular those linked to stock characters, revolution and death. Basically,
Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione – Teatro Stabile Pubblico Regionale, Sede Legale: Teatro Storchi, Largo Garibaldi 15, 41124 Modena. Sede Organizzativa: Via Ganaceto, 129 ‐ 41121, Modena Centralino: Tel. 059 2136011, Biglietteria:. 059 2136021, e‐mail: [email protected] C.F. e P.IVA 01989060361 though, we both wanted to create a structure which started from a sort of “realism”,
then developed to reach a point where the psychology of the characters breaks down
completely and the whole matter becomes a pretext for talking about something else
entirely.
So, about what?
About theatre, about its possibilities and the relationship with tradition... Ken and I
started from such an archaic and ancestral form of theatre – the commedia dell’arte –
in order to bring to light those gestures and voices, in short, that collective memory,
which tradition has held captive for centuries and which, for me, represents the origin
of contemporary theatre. Or rather, it’s the essential foundation underpinning any
contemporary message. To do this, we decided that first of all the audience had to be
presented with something familiar, recognizable (through that “realism” I mentioned
before), and then be given the chance to expose the fiction and advance into
uncharted territory.
Basically, you use one deception to unmask another, and everything is
connected, as the key theme of the whole story is falsehood…
To my mind, when we talk about falsehood we talk about theatre. Theatre is an
artifice that thrives on deception. It all boils down to this: how can we lie to get closer
to the truth? In this regard, my fundamental reference point is Shakespeare.
So it is no coincidence that the crucial scene in Servitore retraces the
pantomime of Hamlet.
Precisely, because that scene in Hamlet, to my mind, is emblematic: it shows how
truth can only be revealed through artifice. This is the real power of theatre. In
Servitore, the pantomime is used to reveal Harlequin’s identity, as much to the
audience as to the other characters, signalling a point of no return for him. And that is
what happens to Hamlet too: after that scene he has no way out, he can no longer
“be” Hamlet, he must die.
Cesena, November 2013
Antonio Latella was born in Castellammare di Stabia in 1967. After his studies at the
theatre school of the Teatro Stabile in Turin, directed by Franco Passatore, and at La
Bottega Teatrale in Florence, directed by Vittorio Gassman, he began his professional
life as an actor (1986-2000). In 1998, he directed his first theatrical performance and
in 2004 he moved to Berlin.
In 2006, he was invited to direct the École des Maîtres, an international theatre
school, directed in the past years by Jerzy Grotowski, Dario Fo, Eimuntas Nekrošius.
He was the artistic director of Nuovo Teatro Nuovo in Naples for the season
2010/2011. In 2011 he founded his own company, stabilemobile - compagnia Antonio
Latella.
Latella has been invited to stage his performances in many different theatres and
Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione – Teatro Stabile Pubblico Regionale, Sede Legale: Teatro Storchi, Largo Garibaldi 15, 41124 Modena. Sede Organizzativa: Via Ganaceto, 129 ‐ 41121, Modena Centralino: Tel. 059 2136011, Biglietteria:. 059 2136021, e‐mail: [email protected] C.F. e P.IVA 01989060361 festivals around the world such as: 11° Union des Théâtres de l’Europe, Festival
d’Avignone, Salzburg Festival, Theaterformen Festival of Braunschweig/Hannover,
Grec Festival of Barcelona, Shakespeare Festival of Santa Susanna, International
“Scène Etrangères” Festival of Villeneuve d’Ascq, Svjetskog Kazalista Festival of
Zagreb, Théâtre National Populaire Villeurbanne, Volksbuhne of Berlin, Odéon Théâtre
de l’Europe - Paris, Theatre Festival of Lugano, Radialsystem Theatre of Berlin, Centro
Cultural de Belém of Lisbon, Comédie de Reims, Teatrul Clasis Festival of Arad, Sibiu
International Theatre Festival (Rumania), Wiener Festwochen, Schauspielhaus Wien,
Napoli Teatro Festival Italia, De Internationale Keuze Van de Rotterdamse
Schouwburg, Staryj Dom of Novosibirsk, Meyerhold Center Moscow, Piccolo Teatro of
Milan, Spielzeit’europa Berlin, Teatro San Carlo of Naples, Teatro di Roma.
Among his most important performances: Otello (1999) and Romeo e Giulietta (2000)
by William Shakespeare (Award Ubu 2001 for the project “Shakespeare e oltre”),
Stretta sorveglianza (2001), I Negri (2002, Award Luca Coppola/Giancarlo Prati,
Award Girulà best dramaturgy) and Querelle (2002) by Jean Genet, the trilogy about
Pier Paolo Pasolini which includes Pilade (2002), Porcile (Award Vittorio Gassman –
Special Award, Award "Teatro il Primo" best production) and Bestia da stile (2004), I
Trionfi by Giovanni Testori (2003), Edoardo II by Christopher Marlowe (2004), La cena
de le ceneri by Giordano Bruno (2005, Award Italian Association for Critics, best
performance of the year), Aspettando Godot by Samuel Beckett (2007).
In 2004 in Lyon, he directed his first Opera, Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi; afterwards
he directed Orfeo ed Euridice by Gluck and Tosca by Giacomo Puccini.
Among his most recent performances: Studio su Medea (Award UBU 2007 best
performance of the year), Moby Dick by Herman Melville, La trilogia della villeggiatura
by Carlo Goldoni, Non essere – Progetto Hamlet’s portraits, Le nuvole by Aristofane,
[H]L_Dopa, Don Chisciotte, Auguri e figli maschi! Sei sguardi d’autore sul
Fondamentalismo, Lear, Don Giovanni, a cenar teco, Die Nacht kurz vor den Wäldern,
Francamente me ne infischio, Un tram che si chiama desiderio (Award Ubu and Award
Hystro 2012 best direction), the Russian trilogy Elettra – Oreste – Ifigenia in Tauride
(winner of the Russian award PARADISE: best theatrical project, best part Georgiy
Bolonev, prize of audience), A. H. and the recent Die Wohlgesinnten by Jonathan
Littell at Schauspielhaus Wien.
In November 2013 Latella signs The Servant of Two Masters based on the play of
Carlo Goldoni.
Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione – Teatro Stabile Pubblico Regionale, Sede Legale: Teatro Storchi, Largo Garibaldi 15, 41124 Modena. Sede Organizzativa: Via Ganaceto, 129 ‐ 41121, Modena Centralino: Tel. 059 2136011, Biglietteria:. 059 2136021, e‐mail: [email protected] C.F. e P.IVA 01989060361