Man and gentleman

Man and gentleman, the masterpiece by Eduardo De Filippo, is staged at the Quirino Theater directed by Armando Pugliese.

The comedy in three acts, written in 1922, marks the transition for Eduardo from farce to prose theater, and is characterized by an exceptional comic mechanism. At the centre of the plot, the story of a down-at-heel company of strolling players, named "The Eclectic" - because it does not set limits to their artistic aptitudes - engaged for a series of performances in a seaside resort. The rehearsal scene of Libero Bovio's Mala Nova is famous, in which a clumsy prompter, continually misunderstood by the actors, combines all sorts of things. Through the classic mechanism of the comedy of misunderstandings, the theater is thus unleashed within the theatre: the various love affairs present in the comedy mix with feigned madness, the only way to avoid duels and gaol.

Among the main interpreters, we remember Geppy Gleijeses, Lorenzo Gleijeses, Ernesto Mahieux, Antonella Cioli, Gino Curcione, Ciro Capano.

Photo credits: courtesy of the Quirino Theater official site