Il Berretto a Sonagli by Luigi Pirandello
By Elia Nichols
I have always been a fair-weathered fan of Luigi Pirandello. His masterpiece Six Characters in Search of an Author bores me at the very best, and although I understand its importance in theatre history, I find it much less exceptional and enlightening than so many other great plays. On the other hand, Pirandello’s Enrico IV electrifies me. I would argue that the human search to understand madness has never been so perfectly and exhaustively explored onstage.
Until possibly, last night.
Currently onstage at the Pergola Theatre is Il Berretto a Sonagli, another Pirandello classic. A delightful and complex one-act comedy, it too examines the theme of insanity, delineating exactly how to go mad: Telling everyone the unadorned, cruel truth regardless of manners or social conventions, soon leads to total social isolation and, in the eyes of others, madness.SiciliaTeatro presents a stunning version of Il Berretto a Sonagli—it is the best show I have seen at the Pergola Theatre. The beautiful sets by Helena Calvarese and costumes by Cristina Darold aid greatly in telling the story, but this is the actors’ show, and the highly talented ensemble cast, with Sebastiano Lo Monaco in the unforgettable role of Ciampa, nails the Pirandellian style. Although all of the actors are excellent, Lo Monaco takes flight with Pirandello’s flawless writing. It is rare to see an actor so able to effortlessly shift from the tragic to the comic. In his version of Ciampa, Lo Monaco has created a character so seemingly harmless and affable that his radical mutation into a man capable of evil and vicious manipulation is truly unexpected.It is not easy to do justice to the great plays and playwrights, and theatre lovers must jump at the opportunity when it arises. This spectacular show is onstage until Sunday. Don’t miss it!
The story: Beatrice, a jealous Sicilian wife who is fed up with being cheated on, decides to set up her husband and his lover so that she can catch them in the act. Ciampa, the spouse of Beatrice’s husband’s lover innocently gives Beatrice the keys to his house, not understanding what she will do with them when he leaves. Soon the two lovers are indeed caught together by the police, and arrested, creating a scandal in the small town. Beatrice seems comforted that she has gotten revenge until her family and friends blame her for ruining everyone’s reputation including her own. Ciampa, in particular, censures her for committing such a selfish act and for having not considered his feelings, for he has now become a cuckold. He realizes then that the only way to not appear a cuckold to the whole town is to convince everyone that the person who caused the scandal is actually insane. In the end, Ciampa and the family of Beatrice convince her that the only way to remedy the situation is for her to appear mad and temporarily go to an insane asylum. Beatrice, incredulous that to save the faces of the guilty ones, she has to affect insanity, begins to really scream, probably out of frustration and terror. We last see her being dragged offstage howling like a true madwoman.Pirandello oftens asks: What is the truth? At the end of this play, we leave questioning ourselves, is truth that which can be proved by evidence, or that which people want to see and believe?
Where: Pergola Theatre, Via della Pergola 12/32, Florence
When: January 10-14 at 8:45 p.m. and Sunday January 15 at 15:45
For more information or to get tickets: By phone: 055.0763333
Ticket office: via della Pergola 24, Florence (open: Monday-Saturday 9:30 a.m.- 6:30 p.m.)
Online: http://www.boxol.it/teatrodellapergola/IT/index.aspx?A=767
