Intervista a Franco Zeffirelli
FEBRUARY 2003 eing a set designer is not so much an asset, an item in Franco Zeffirelli’s repertoire as a man of theatre. It is such an integral Upart of his relationship with the medium that any attempt to evaluate it separately becomes very difficult. Naturally, seen out of context, framed and under glass, Zeffirelli’s designs for his stage-sets may look simply ‘beautiful’ to the uninitiated; but as regards their ‘beauty’ – harmony, charm, skill or anything else – I should like to hear the opinion of an art critic, since I am not an expert in that field. It is obvious that they may be judged without taking into account their original purpose; designing sets is a servile task, Tribute to that is not required to lead an independent existence, but it can create and has created masterpieces. Mantegna’s cartoons, now at Hampton Court, originated as set designs, and you cannot imagine anything more delightful than Inigo Jones’s settings for the masques performed at the court of the Stuart kings, now in the Duke of Devonshire’s collection. Leaving others to decide whether the highly talented Zeffirelli is to be admitted to this Olympus of set designers, I should like to RANCO EFFIRELLI say something else about his work; I have to be careful how I say it, because I realize it may sound limiting whereas speaking as a F Z theatre critic I mean it as praise. It is this. His set designs will never be able to be exhibited in their entirety – for the theatre alone, which is my province, Zeffirelli has been set designer, and from 1959 onwards, nearly always director of at least thirty plays – but if we examine the vast collection of sketches, drawings, watercolours etc.
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