Also known as The lower depths, At the Bottom, or A Night's Lodging, the great drama by Maxim Gorky, which was staged for the first time in Moscow in 1902, was renamed L’albergo dei poveri by Giorgio Strehler in 1947, on the occasion of the extraordinary production that inaugurated the Piccolo Teatro di Milano in May 1947. It is this title that Massimo Popolizio has chosen to represent to audiences, for its emblematic, poetic and historic value.
L’albergo dei poveri is a grand ensemble piece that could be defined as Shakespearian in its skillful dose of pathos, social protest, bitter comedy, and philosophical and moral reflection on human destiny. The large number of actors on stage forces the director to identify a rhythm that is suited to the constant change in situation and point of view, in a crescendo of tension that is further highlighted by the evoked confined space; a refuge for drunks and the down-and-out, where the characters spend their days trying not to succumb to desperation and the inertia of defeat. It is a challenge that, after Stanislavskij, who was the first to direct Gorky’s work, was taken on by great masters of theatrical directing, such as Strehler, as well as cinema, including Renoir and Kurosawa.
While it is true that great works pass through time to be re-read by each generation from a different point of view, Popolizio’s directing style, his way of directing the actors and the mechanism of theatre as a whole, seem particularly suited to writing a new chapter in this story of interpretation. Ours is not the world of 1902, nor is it that of 1947; the very concept of “poverty” has changed, but the dramatic energy, the visionary strength and the desperate lucidness of Gorky’s characters is still intact.