A Travelling Tale: Shakespeare on the Italian Stage Considers the Transposition from Page to Stage of Some of Shakespeare’S Plays in Italy
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Maria Coduri A Travelling Tale: Shakespeare on the Italian Stage Thesis submitted for the Degree of MPhil January 2013 Departments of Italian and English School of European Languages, Culture and Society University College London University of London 1 DECLARATION I, Maria Coduri, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 ABSTRACT This thesis considers the transposition from page to stage of some of Shakespeare’s plays in Italy. In particular it concentrates on different approaches to Shakespeare’s texts and different ways to transform them into theatrical action. The first chapter has an introductory function, and lays the groundwork for subsequent discussion. It illustrates the encounter between the work of the English playwright and the Italian people through an overall view of the reception of Shakespeare in Italy from the first mention of his name in 1667 to Francesco De Sanctis’s critical writings in the mid- nineteenth century. The following chapters discuss how Shakespeare’s plays have been adapted for the stage by some prominent Italian actors and directors. The focus is on three periods of the history of Italian theatre. The Great Actors of the mid-nineteenth century offered stagings of Shakespeare’s plays that focused on the main character, thus depriving them of anything that did not enhance the role of the lead actor. The generation of the directors, that flourished in Italy in the mid-twentieth century, advocated a philological reading of the playtexts, after they had been so severely altered by the generation of the actors. Finally, all through the 1960s and 1970s, the experimentalists of the ‘Nuovo Teatro’ (‘New Theatre’) returned to what can be defined ‘the actor’s theatre’, and their approach veered towards very personal productions considered by many irreverent to and irrespectful of the playtexts. Combining general theoretical discussion with the close reading of some adaptations, the thesis offers an analysis of different movements in Italian productions of Shakespeare, and an argument about different versions of Shakespearian ‘authenticity’ in Italy. 3 Table of Contents Table of Figures ............................................................................................. 6 Table of Italian Titles and English Translations ............................................ 8 Table of English Titles and Italian Translations ............................................ 9 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................... 10 Introduction .................................................................................................. 10 Literature Review ......................................................................................... 17 1. The Reception of Shakespeare in Italy (1667-mid-19th century) ............ 35 1.1 From the First Mention of Shakespeare to Francesco De Sanctis ...... 35 1.2 Verdi’s Macbeth: a Milestone in the Diffusion and Appreciation of Shakespeare’s Plays in Italy ..................................................................... 64 2. Shakespeare in the Actor’s Theatre (mid-19th century-1925) ................. 73 2.1 A Forerunner and the Great Actors .................................................... 74 2.2 The Generation of the Mattatori ......................................................... 97 3. Shakespeare in the Director’s Theatre (1947-1978) .............................. 111 3.1 From the Actor’s Theatre to the Director’s Theatre ......................... 111 3.2 The Foundation of the Piccolo Teatro della Citta’ di Milano .......... 117 3.3 Strehler, the Director ........................................................................ 129 3.4 Strehler’s First Productions of Shakespeare’s Plays ........................ 135 3.5 Re Lear ............................................................................................. 141 4 3.6 La Tempesta ...................................................................................... 160 3.7 The Translation of The Tempest by Agostino Lombardo and Giorgio Strehler ................................................................................................... 173 4. Shakespeare in the New Theatre (1959-1998) ....................................... 190 4.1 The New Theatre .............................................................................. 191 4.1.1 A Manifesto for the New Theatre .............................................. 212 4.1.2 The ‘Elementi di discussione del convegno per un nuovo teatro’ (‘Elements of Discussion of the Conference for a New Theatre’)...... 218 4.1.3 The Convegno di Ivrea............................................................... 221 4.1.4 The New Theatre and the Early Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde Movements .......................................................................................... 225 4.2. Leo de Berardinis ............................................................................ 227 4.2.1 Working with Shakespeare in the 1960s: La Faticosa Messinscena dell’Amleto di William Shakespeare; Sir And Lady Macbeth ........... 228 4.2.2 New Approaches to the Theatre of Shakespeare: the Productions of the 1970s, the 1980s and the 1990s ................................................ 238 4. 3. Carmelo Bene ................................................................................. 254 4.3.1 A General Overview of Bene’s Theatre .................................... 256 4.3.2 Variations on Hamlet ................................................................. 263 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 286 Bibliography ............................................................................................... 297 5 Table of Figures Figure 1: Adelaide Ristori as Lady Macbeth ............................................... 87 Figure 2: Ernesto Rossi as Hamlet ............................................................... 88 Figure 3: Tommaso Salvini as Hamlet ......................................................... 88 Figure 4: Ernesto Rossi as Macbeth ............................................................. 88 Figure 5: Tommaso Salvini as Macbeth ....................................................... 88 Figure 6: Ermete Novelli as Shylock ......................................................... 101 Figure 7: Eleonora Duse as Cleopatra ........................................................ 107 Figure 8: Gordon Craig's screens for Hamlet ............................................. 115 Figure 9: Ottavia Piccolo as Cordelia and Tino Carraro as Lear ............... 154 Figure 10: Ottavia Piccolo as Cordelia and Tino Carraro as Lear ............. 155 Figure 11: Renato De Carmine as Gloucester and Tino Carraro as Lear in Strehler's Re Lear ....................................................................................... 159 Figure 12: Paul Scofield as Lear, Alan Webb as Gloucester and Brian Murray as Edgar in Brook's King Lear ...................................................... 159 Figure 13: Giulia Lazzarini as Ariel and Tino Carraro as Prospero .......... 165 Figure 14: Michele Placido as Caliban and Tino Carraro as Prospero ...... 171 Figure 15: Perla Peragallo .......................................................................... 236 Figure 16: Leo de Berardinis and Perla Peragallo in Sir and Lady Macbeth .................................................................................................................... 237 Figure 17: Leo de Berardinis as Lear ......................................................... 243 6 Figure 18: Leo de Berardinis as Lear in Lear Opera ................................. 250 Figure 19: Carmelo Bene as Hamlet .......................................................... 269 Figure 20: Carmelo Bene as Hamlet in Hommelette for Hamlet ............... 278 Figure 21: Stefania De Santis as Ludovica Albertoni in Hommelette for Hamlet ........................................................................................................ 279 7 Table of Italian Titles and English Translations Amleto Hamlet Amleto di Carmelo Bene (da Hamlet by Carmelo Bene (from Shakespeare a Laforgue) Shakespeare to Laforgue) Il gioco dei potenti 1, 2, 3 Henry VI Il racconto d’inverno The Winter’s Tale King lacreme Lear napulitane King tears Lear Neapolitan King Lear: studi e variazioni King Lear: Studies and Variations La faticosa messinscena dell’ The Challenging Staging of William Amleto di William Shakespeare Shakespeare’s Hamlet La Tempesta The Tempest Mercante di Venezia The Merchant of Venice Otello Othello Re Lear King Lear Re Lear da un’idea di gran teatro di King Lear from an Idea of Great William Shakespeare Theatre by William Shakespeare Riccardo III Richard III Romeo e Giulietta Romeo and Juliet Sogno di una notte di mezza estate A Midsummer Night’s Dream Totò principe di Danimarca Totò Prince of Denmark 8 Table of English Titles and Italian Translations The Challenging Staging of William La faticosa messinscena dell’ Shakespeare’s Hamlet Amleto di William Shakespeare Hamlet Amleto Hamlet by Carmelo Bene (from Amleto di Carmelo Bene (da Shakespeare to Laforgue) Shakespeare a Laforgue) King Lear Re Lear King Lear from an Idea of Great Re Lear da un’idea di gran teatro di Theatre by William Shakespeare William Shakespeare King Lear: Studies and Variations King