What does this money serve? By Armando Curcio
By Martina Baldi (University of Florence)
A che servono questi quattrini? (What does this money serve?) is a two-part comedy written by Armando Curcio in 1940. In May of the same year, one month before the declaration of war in Italy, the comedy came to the theater, produced by Eduardo De Filippo’s company, with which Curcio actively collaborated.
Luigi De Filippo, son of Peppino, produced the play when it was shown at Florence’s Teatro della Pergola from February 14 to 19, 2012. Luigi, in addition to occupying himself with directing, set design and music, he also gave us a pungent interpretation of the Marquis Parascandoli, who is the true fulcrum of the story. When he entered the stage, the audience gave him a warm welcome, with an applause in the middle of the show.
The story centers on Vincenzino Esposito, a young Neapolitan who, at one time, was “all work and no play”, but who, after meeting the “Professor” – the Marquis Parascandoli – he came under the influence of his theories, abandoning work, at the desperation of his aunt Carmela, who does not know how she will find money to eat and repay their debts. The Marquis, in fact, believes that money is a vulgar and useless thing, and he doesn’t want anything to do with it. He preaches a life of otium: the importance of cultivating the mind, dedicating oneself to the examples set by philosophy, and ignoring the material problems of life. The Marquis reveals that, at one time, he himself had millions of lira, but that he gambled it all away at the tables. From that moment on, he didn’t want to think about it anymore.
Vincenzino is the classic “poor fool”. Having many debts (with the tailor, with the druggist), and in love with Rachelina, he is threatened by her brother, who absolutely does not want “one of those” to court his sister. Vincenzino hangs onto the words of the Marquis, without, however, truly understanding what the man is saying. His stupidity gives us some of the most entertaining scenes in the whole comedy, when, for example, the young man does not remember the names of Socrates and Diogenes, and he refers to them in public as “A Sòreta” (To your sister) and “Idrogeno” (Hydrogen). Because of his obvious stupidity, the Marquis chooses him as the butt of a joke, which involves all of the neighbors: a notary presents himself at the home of Vincenzino and reveals that his long-lost relative in America has left him 500,000 lira in his will. This inheritance (which is revealed as not real only in the final scene: the money is Monopoly money) causes a series of misunderstandings, in particular when the Marquis secretly steals the money of poor Vincenzino, making him believe that it’s lost. He suggests to him, however, to not tell anyone, and to pretend to be rich. In this way, Rachelina’s brother, immersed in debt, suddenly wants to give her in marriage to Vincenzino. The tailor, the druggist, and the jeweler begin to charge him credit, telling Vincenzino “you can pay us at the end of the month”, each time resulting with the young man bursting into tears, for he cannot explain that he does not have the money and he does not know how to dig himself out of this mess.
And the Marquis has fun with this situation. Making everyone believe that Vincenzino is rich results in his marriage to the girl that he loves (and who does not return his love) and in the settlement of other diverse money problems that involve various characters. The show concludes during the engagement party: everyone is satisfied, and no one is aware of the Marquis’ trick, which, in addition, results in a happy ending.
Whoever watches the show understands right away that the Marquis is not a stupid man. With the art of rhetoric and of dialectic, he is able to influence the others, to make them do what he wants, without anyone realizing it. Those people around him preach an uninspired philosophy, but he knows what he is talking about and he truly understands them. His knowledge of human nature motivates him to play with it, manipulating the others. He doesn’t do this for his own benefit, as one may think, seeing that he was left without any money. He truly wants to demonstrate that it is more important to appear rich, than it is to be rich, and he demonstrates this with his experiment.
As many have written, the comedy is still relevant today, even if over seventy years have passed since its first production. Still today, as was then, the markets and the exchanges are based on virtual money. This money does not exist, but it is still used. From this, a reflection on modern markets is spontaneously born, also regarding the crisis that has spread throughout Europe and the world: for how long can we continue to make ourselves believe that we are rich? And how much are we any different from Vincenzino, the “poor fool”?
