Naples Theatre Festival

DON GIOVANNI O SIA IL CONVITATO DI PIETRA
by Giovanni Bertati

a show ideated and made Piermario Vescovo e Antonella Zaggia
coproduction Napoli Teatro Festival Italia, Miranoteatro Srl -
Comune di Mirano, Teatro dell’Orso in Peata
from 10th to 12th June 8.00pm

location: Teatro Instabile Napoli

First night

language Italian

duration 90′

played and animated by Linda Bobbo, Sandra Mangini, Michela Mocchiutti, Marika Tesser, Antonella Zaggia

singed by Sabina Cacioppo, Maria Elena Fincato, Lucia Michelazzo, Sonia Visentin

eexecuted by “Henetus Concentus” (Marilisa Bacchiega, Valentina Favotto, Cecilia Gonzalez, Penelope Mitsikopoulos, Natalina Spataru, Chiara Telleri, Lia Tiso, Alessandra Vianello)

directionStefano Celeghin

organization Mario Esposito, Miranoteatro Srl - Amministratore unico Massimo Sorarù

secreterariat (Teatro dell’Orso in Peata) Giulietta Bazoli

light designGable Nalesso

collaboration Eugenio Facchin

Don Giovanni o sia il Convitato di pietra is the result of the stage adaptation of Giovanni Bertati’s and Giuseppe Gazzaniga’s one-act work.

This work is a modern reading of the theatrical forms of the 18° century, above all of the noble theatre, of the music “in miniature” for simpletons and camera orchestra. Don Giovanni’s story had been dramatised and set to music many times when, in 1787, Giovanni Bertati decided to make a synthetic summary of it (within a limited space and time - one-act) without a break. Bertati’s libretto has the merit to describe the myth of the famous libertine in a form that will then be used in Da Ponte’s libretto for Mozart, where situations and dialogues are sometimes so closely followed to be paraphrases.

Vescovo and Zaggia have decided to have a cast consisting of women only, wearing a wedding dress; by so doing the directors play with an overall idea of performance-rite: five actresses make all figures moving and play their roles in the middle of music acts; sometimes they are visible to the audience, sometimes they move behind a wheeled hut. In their turn singers interact with the “visualisation” of the performance played by puppets.

Piermario Vescovo is professor at the University Ca’ Foscari of Venice where he teaches Italian Theatrical Literature. His main field of interest is Dramatic Literature, with a specific view to Ruzante, Calmo, Goldoni, Gozzi, Gallina. He was also invited professor at the Universities of Paris III, Paris IV-Sorbonne, École Normale Supérieure Paris-Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand, Barcelona. He is scientific advisor for the national editions of Carlo Goldoni’s, Ippolito Nievo’s and Carlo Gozzi’s works. He also works as director.

Antonella Zaggia worked at the Teatro a l’Avogaria of Venice in the period between 1978 and 1983, as actress, costume-designer and property-woman; she is still performing these activities. Her fields of interest are: figure theatre, construction and animation of puppets. She wrote a number of essays on the Venetian theatrical experiences of the 18th century.

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