In a completely renewed atmosphere, Milan’s Teatro Olmetto opened its 2002/2003 theatre season with “Lo sghignazzo di Arlecchino” (Harlequin’s Guffaw), by Ruzante, Goldoni and Dario Fo, directed by Vito Molinari and starring Eugenio de’ Giorgi.
Naughty and ironic, the show is a revisitation of seven centuries of adventures of Giovanni, a.k.a. Zanni (alias Harlequin), the rustic and instinct-driven servant - an unmannerly individual who never manages to satisfy his primitive appetites; a character that evolves, changes and takes on different guises while always remaining true to himself and to his simplicity, who expresses himself with animated gesticulations and utterances that are not always easy to follow, in a phonetic hotchpotch that audiences find exhilarating. The script’s grotesque comedy is rendered with great skill, and the quips, or rather the “guffaws”, never overflow into gestural vulgarity. Mimicry and travesty turn out as the right ingredients for a lively and cheerful entertainment. Like the rest of the season’s programme at the Olmetto, the show is somewhat of a gamble for the Milan theatre scene, reproposing the long gone art form of off-the-cuff acting, which, though it has the merit of having brought Italian traditional theatre to fame, may not come off well with the fickle Milanese theatregoers. This gamble is the natural continuation of an international project that took off in 2001 and is aimed at establishing a research centre and an international company for the Commedia dell’Arte, in cooperation with the Universities of Westminster, Royal Holloway and Kingston, and that will also be hosted by London theatres such as Portland Hall and the Cockpit. As well as stage productions, this comprehensive project will include a week-long workshop on the Commedia dell’Arte directed by Eugenio de’ Giorgi and, subsequently, a conference with the participation of various experts. A present-day Harlequin, Eugenio de’ Giorgi has placed his art at art’s service, seeking no other spotlights but those inside the house, and without worrying too much about gambling, because that’s what he thinks about theatre and about his role in it.

Translated by interpres sas