Sunday 15 January at 9.00pm, Teatro Caio Melisso – Spazio Carla Fendi
Every now and then we hear of some family that, having found itself with a few too many ‘oldies’ in the house, decides to ‘get rid of’ them, dumping them in one place or another. But are we sure this is a good idea and not a dangerous offence ready to backfire at the first opportunity?
More than eight decades ago, Gianfrancesco Marignoli had already picked up on the first signs of what was becoming an unpleasant ‘habit’, which we repropose today as relevant as it was then. In the Spoleto of the economic boom, the vicissitudes and loves of retired Colonel Franco Bernardi, his attendant Peppe Ciavatta and a simple, modest family in search of money intertwine in a comic play in three acts.
With an intergenerational cast ranging from nine to over eighty years old, the Compagnia Teatrale La Maschera returns to the theatre, ready as ever, for forty-seven years now, to entertain and have fun together with an irreverent show with a veiled social character.
The Compagnia Teatrale ‘La Maschera’ of Spoleto, affiliated to the Federazione Italiana Teatro Amatori (Italian Federation of Amateur Theatre) is composed of amateur actors: pensioners, workers, employees and students. Its establishment dates back to around the 1950s and during this long period it performed a wide variety of comedies and operettas, both in Italian and in Spoleto dialect. The group became a theatre company on the occasion of the ‘II Rassegna Nazionale del Teatro in Vernacolo’ (Second National Review of Vernacular Theatre) organised by the Italian Federation of Amateur Theatre in Spoleto in 1976. Numerous shows have been performed almost monthly since 1976 in Umbria, Marche, Abruzzo, Lazio, Veneto, Calabria, Trentino – Alto Adige, Campania, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Switzerland, France, Germany and Luxembourg. In 1997 the company was awarded at the “Festival Nazionale FITA” in Viareggio; in 2005 at the “Rassegna Nazionale Stella d´Oro” in Allerona; in 2006 it participated in the “Festival Nazionale del teatro da Piazza” in Soveria Mannelli (Cz); in 2007 it took part in the “Festival Nazionale del teatro amatoriale” at the Teatro Cristallo in Bolzano and won 1st prize at the “Rassegna Nazionale del Teatro Dialettale” in Spoleto; in 2008 it took part in the 7th National Festival of Comedy Theatre “Torre D’Oro” in Vico Equense; in 2009 at the “Piccolo Festival dei 5 Mondi” in Ragogna; in 2010 it took part in the “Festival del teatro amatoriale città di Terni” and won the prize for best show presented; in 2011 it was a finalist company at the 6th National Amateur Theatre Festival “Paolo Dego” Premio Città di Ponte nelle Alpi; in 2015, at the 5th Review of Amateur Theatre organised by the DLF of Foligno, it won the Jury Prize for Best Show, the Prize for Best Director and the Audience Prize with ‘Medeo’; in 2016 it was awarded at the 3rd Review of Amateur Theatre in Poggio Moiano (Ri) with the show ‘Medeo’.
Its main characteristic is that it combines firm traditions rooted in the city with an open and supportive vision of its role in the territory, offering space and support to those who seriously want to approach the wonderful world of theatre.
The plays most frequently performed by this group are the comedies by Gianfrancesco Marignoli and in particular: “La Casa”, “Cameretta a tre letti”, “Felicino”, “Don Gesuardo”, “Tocca Ringrazià Zio” (a play that has won numerous awards at national festivals), “Invecchianno Impazzenno”, “Piccole Storie Nostre”, “Un Terno a Montarone”, “Medeo”, “Arduino lu Barbiere”, “Nozze co li Funghi”, “Ginetto lu Pompiere”, “Franco lu Macellaro”, “Gatta Mociona”, “Lo Peggjo non Finisce Mai”, “Lu Lozzu”, “Lu soldato spaccone” from Miles Gloriosus by Plautus, O Nobbili o Zitelle, Sor Torquato Scojonatu from Sior Todero Brontolon by Goldoni “Lu Forestiero”; Moliere’s ‘L’Avaro’, Plautus’ ‘Casina’, Pirandello’s ‘Berretto a Sonagli’, Pirandello’s ‘Lohengrin’, ‘Da giovedì a giovedì’ by De Benedetti, ‘I casi sono due’ by Curcio, ‘Pesce per quattro’ by W. Kohlhaase, ‘Il treno ha fischiato’ by A. De Santis
