“The whole theater” arrives in the bookstore
NoonSeptember 7, 2022 – 7:00 pm
“It will be an episode in the story of the commissioner set in 1939”
from Mirella Armiero
NIn his introduction to the volume that collects all the theatrical work of Maurizio de Giovanni, Roberto Andò brings up as “tutelary deity that immediately comes to mind, and that I am sure will not displease de Giovanni, the genius of Eduardo De Filippo”. An important reference, in front of which the Neapolitan writer fends off. But it is also true that Einaudi pays him notable honors, such as this collection of nine texts, all staged in Italian theaters. And the public shows more and more enthusiasm.
“Let’s not joke,” comments de Giovanni. «The approach to De Filippo cannot be on the level of literary value, but it is justified by the fact that there is the thread of a certain tradition. Mine is neither experimental nor avant-garde theater, they are just stories that I like to tell ».
De Giovanni, you present yourself as a “simple narrator”, yet you have become a reference intellectual, overwhelmed, interviewed, applauded.
“I keep repeating: I tell stories. Maybe the variety of themes can be interesting. But above all the fact that a theater like mine can make use of an acting class that is the best in the world, the Neapolitan one ».
But why use the theater? Weren’t novels enough?
“I find theater to be a more direct form of storytelling. Before that, there is oral narration, that of mothers to their children for example. Then comes the scene and only after the written word. I would also add that – even if abused – the image of Naples as a stage city is very true. We are in close contact with each other, there is always a fact to tell or to hear. Just think of De Crescenzo’s “red horse” ».
His theater is more in line with a bourgeois rather than popular tradition.
«Yes, because I tell what I know. If I had belonged to a less bourgeois world … but it doesn’t seem right to talk about things you don’t know. This is why I avoid the Camorra argument, I don’t have the necessary awareness of it ».
Among the published texts, which is the one you care most about?
«Perhaps“ The great silence ”which in Italy was among the shows with the highest number of spectators and which made me win a Nastro d’Argento. It has given me a lot of satisfaction. And then “Mettici la mano”, in which Maione and Bambenella appear outside the series of Commissioner Ricciardi. But also the others, where, for example, I deal with the father-son relationship which intrigues me a lot for my story ».
She comes out of a difficult time; she talked about her heart attack on her social networks: will this also become the object of narration?
«I will not tell it directly but it is an event that gives me new awareness. First of all, I saw what fantastic professionals a hospital like Cardarelli is full of and how wrong we are if we travel to be treated elsewhere. Another thing I have become aware of is that you cannot ask too much of your body, there is a limit, especially if you are no longer 20 but 65 ».
What will you do now?
«I still have a theatrical text planned for the direction of Michele Placido. It will be the story of Sacco and Vanzetti whose centenary of execution fell in 2020: it is a story of immigration and racism that is still relevant today. Then when I was sick I decided to go back to Ricciardi, I have a story inside me and I don’t want to let it go. It is set in 1939, or 5 years after the last episode ».
All this he thought while recovering, in a long Neapolitan summer …
“Yes, I stayed in Naples and I saw that the city has never emptied itself, on the contrary it seems to me that today there is great energy, a great desire for recovery”.
Did you receive much testimony of closeness after your illness?
«I was overwhelmed by it, many gave me affection. In this way I discovered that my stories keep a lot of people company ».
Were you afraid of dying?
“Never. But I had a lot of nostalgia. Above all, nostalgia for the future, for what I could no longer do ».
7 September 2022 | 7:00 pm
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