The art of Comedy

The art of Comedy by Eduardo De Filippo is on stage at the Teatro Argentina directed by Fausto Russo Alesi. Considered the most "Pirandellian" of the works of the great Neapolitan playwright, the work is part of the collection Cantata dei giorni dispari (Song of odd days), the comedies written from the post-war period onwards, which deal with the problems and various difficulties of daily life, as well as social relationships.

Written in 1964, the comedy in two acts and prologue has as its protagonist Oreste Campese, the comedian of a traveling troupe (formed by his family), who was struck by the calamity of the loss of the "shed", a mobile theater structure reduced to ashes due to an accidental fire.

 It’s a play - tragic and farcical at the same time - of social denunciation by the actors, on one hand towards the bourgeoisie, as the author underlines how the latter censors the artists from an ideological and material point of view, on the other towards the governments which, to distract the masses, direct mass culture in such a way as to prevent awareness of the real problems of society.

 Among the main performers, we remember: Fausto Russo Alesi (Oreste Campese, actor-manager), David Meden (Veronesi, attendant), Sem Bonventre (Palmira, hostess), Alex Cendron (His Excellency De Caro, prefect), Paolo Zuccari (Giacomo Franci, his secretary).

Photo credits courtesy of Anna Camerlingo