A satire on the world of theater and cinema, but also a collective reflection on crisis and failure. The show ‘Ciarlatani‘ arrives in Ferrara, with Silvio Orlando, based on a work by Pablo Rémon. Appointment at the Teatro Comunale of Ferrara, this evening and tomorrow at 8.30 pm and Sunday at 4 pm.
Silvio Orlando, as his profile photo on Whatsapp, has a beautiful poem by Costantino Kavafis, ‘For what lies in you’.
“I identify very much with the meaning: keeping out of elbowing, of being present at all costs, without being inactive. You can be active even without participating in the orgy of presenteeism, of having your say at all costs.”
Let’s talk about Charlatans. You discovered Pablo Remón’s work in Madrid and brought it to Italy. Tell us how it went.
“I was attracted by the fact that Javier Cámara, a Spanish actor, who in terms of artistic research is like a brother (with whom I worked in Sorrentino’s series, ‘The Young Pope’), was returning to the theater after twenty years of cinema, driven by Remón’s work seemed in line with what we have been doing in recent years.”
Of the show, his performance, in the role of a director in crisis, and the performance of Blu Yoshimi, in the role of an actress who struggles to find success, are highly praised.
“The theme is precisely the crisis. There is a first level of investigation into the environment of the show, but then the work has a universal meaning: we analyze the crisis, the failure of two different people, starting from their age. One she is over sixty, the other under thirty. One has his place in the world, a success that however does not correspond to him, which he almost suffers. The girl instead seeks her place in the world, with family and existential events. The curiosity is to understand how they emerge from these two crises: it can be a mirror of what happens in today’s world, where there is a social obligation to be successful. It is the worst condemnation: not living up to this expectation “.
And who are the ‘Charlatans’?
“It’s all of us, when we deny, we don’t face moments of crisis, so as not to go through failure.”
Is there a Pirandellian matrix?
“Pirandello reinvented the theater in the twentieth century. With the ‘Six characters’ he dismantled the toy, he showed what was behind the sets and scenes. So, yes, the structure of the show reflects the ‘theatre within the theatre’, but trying not to chase a new way: even the most revolutionary things can become fashionable.”
As happens with mannerist painters, who succeed Michelangelo or Raphael.
“That’s exactly the problem. When the great masters arrive, subsequent generations are in difficulty. The important thing is to be sincere: art must not pursue the truth, but sincerity must. If you are taking inspiration from the greats, you must declare it.”
So you’re also a mannerist?
“No. I don’t consider myself a mannerist, I didn’t follow the technique. I tried to narrow the field, starting exclusively from the observation of myself, as a human being. To understand if within me there was the key to expressing the pains, the everyone’s problems, concerns, anyone can do it: you don’t have to have an extraordinary life to be representative of something.”
Francesco Franchella
