LIVING THOUGHTS, thoughts speaking up clearly, the voice of the actor who reaches the audience through the words of the greatest playwright of the modern era: Luigi Pirandello.
One-hundred and fifty years (28 June 1867 – 28 June 2017) have passed since his birth but the words written by the author who created “Six Characters in Search of an Author” still live with all their power and continue to fascinate the world of theater, literature, philosophy. Words that generate thousands of books always striving to find and explain what the “right key” is to open that mysterious door behind which you should conceal that magical spell that helps us to interpret his thought … “A waste of time” the author would say, because with Pirandello the ways of interpretation are endless and only the audience will work it out when attending the production of his works.
In a 45-minute performance, actor / director Mimmo Mangione presents extracts from six Pirandello’s masterpieces by portraying six characters that are among the most complex and important roles of all modern theatre.
Peppino De Filippo, said that the theatre is a constant search for the truth. Those who strive to find hidden truths, to analyze too much, to vouch for the text, will find themselves “confronted with falsehoods” that create labyrinths with no way out.
Mimmo Mangione’s theatrical research is based on the functionality of the story (“u cuntu” in Sicilian), which is the basis of every Pirandelian script. The truth is written with those same words that make up those phrases with which the characters bare their own soul and tell their stories!
The monologues are taken from the following plays: “Six Characters in Search of an Author”, “The Mountain Giants”, “Henry IV”, “The Man with the Flower in his Mouth”, “Cap and Bells” and “One, No one and one Hundred and Thousand”.
In English on Il Globo, Sara Bavato interviews Mimmo Mangione: click here
Since 1968, Mimmo Mangione has stayed within the creative atmosphere of the stage and has been involved in over one hundred productions as a set and costume designer, stage manager, actor, director and dramaturge. He could not exist without the theatre; it’s a consuming passion which spurs him to accomplish amazing feats against all odds.
In 1989 he became cofounder of the Commeartefo’ Theatre Company and has been Artistic Director since. He has played major roles in Moliere’s sarcastic comedies “The Hypochondriac”, “The Miser” and “Don Giovanni”. In Goldoni’s elegant works inspired by the Commedia dell’Arte, “The Servant of two Masters” and “The Mistress of the Inn”, Dario Fo’s “Comic Mystery” and Eduardo De Filippo’s masterpieces “Filumena Marturano”, “Christmas in Naples” and “Those Damned Ghosts”, Pirandello’s “Man, Beast and Virtue”, “Six Characters in search of an Author” and “Cap and bells’’, and also performed his own play, “Confession of an actor”, in 1995.
Between 1996 and 1998 he was also the Artistic Director of the Melbourne French Theatre Company, bringing to life such masterworks as Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, Moliere’s “Le Malade Immaginarie”, and comedies by Labiche, Mariveaux, Feydeau and Tristan Bernard.
He was also guest –Director at the VCA School of Opera, where he staged several operas with the students, and also produced music. Latest works acted by this “madman” are all Pirandello’s play: “The Vice”, “Cece”, “Henry IV“. He can be described as mad, enterprising, dynamic, passionate and forever aiming at excellence and professionalism.
Adi Sappir, an acclaimed Melbourne based cellist and vocalist delivers a musical fusion of East meets the West. As an Israeli-Australian living in Melbourne, Adi composes lyrical stories reflecting her cultural background and personal experience. Her unique compositions are rich and intimate in tone. By combining her music with different art forms, along with the influence of her Hebrew heritage, Adi composes a mosaic of melodies as an echo of society itself.
Her solo albums, Instead of a love poem (2016), Insomnia (2012) and Under the Clocks (2003) showcase Adi’s passion for creating a multidimensional experience through her music. On 2016 Adi has realised a dream. Joined by The Boite, they produced a concert featuring the music of Arabic and Jewish cultures. It has taken place at the Melbourne Immigration Museum to a full house of enthusiastic audience. The project was kindly supported by Creative Victoria, Victoria Multicultural Commission and Global Reconciliation.
In recent years Adi has collaborated with various musicians and artists on a number of projects. Highlights include Adi’s music for The Play of Sound (2015-16) at the Jewish Writers and Glen Eira Storytelling Festivals as well as The Sydney Jewish Writers Festival. Adi also performed for the theatre play, Eleanor and Mary Alice (2014, 16) at Heide Museum of Modern Art in Victoria and at Perth Centre for Contemporary Photography as part of the Human Rights exhibition. Adding to this is Adi’s video project, Between Sound and Space (2013-2014), that took place in various art galleries across Melbourne. As an undercurrent in all her projects, Adi continues to compose music in Hebrew and in her adopted English language, creating the nostalgic and unique tones she is renowned for.
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