«Come to the theatre, Mr. Prefect! – said the theatre company lead – At the theatre, the utmost truth has and always will be the utmost fiction...»; this was where everything began. To what extent can the distance and the filter of theatre help us, through fiction, to face reality?
L’arte della commedia, the extraordinary and brilliant work by Eduardo De Filippo, is part of the “giorni dispari”, the collection that examines the difficult aspects of daily life from different points of view. What is incredible is the strength and the topicality of the text, which brings us face to face with the mortification and censorship of culture. Written in 1964 – both ambiguous and farcical – it is a lesser-explored work, apparently less explosive than the more famous masterpieces, but in reality a majestic text of extensive breadth and extraordinary imperfection, as imperfect as humankind in search of its identity, its right to exist; a search for answers to those pressing and necessary questions that can no longer wait. It examines the contradictory relationship between the State and the Theatre, and the role of art and artists in our society; but the doubts, responsibilities, and weaknesses that Eduardo presents regard us all, and that Theatre, be it a theatrical company or a small world, echoes our relationship with the powers that be and the need to be heard and above all recognised.