The Piccolo plays host to a mini-retrospective dedicated to Mitipretese, the group created in 2006 by Manuela Mandracchia, Alvia Reale, Sandra Toffolatti and Mariángeles Torres, creating a place in which dramaturgy, directing, scenography and actor directing could be the result of a collective work which, together with Mauro De Santis, has led to the creation of a number of plays, including Roma ore 11 from 2006, Troiane/Frammenti di tragedia from 2013 and Festa di famiglia from 2009, which will all be staged at the Teatro Studio Melato.

 

Festa di Famiglia is a reflection on the violent dynamics within the family unit. Taking Pirandello as its cue, with the collaboration of Andrea Camilleri, this is a presentation of a contemporary story, “a point of view of the family - explains Mitipretese - which seems dated for our evolved society, but which instead still faithfully reflects what we are”.  Every day in Italy a woman is killed by her family: husband, boyfriend, father, son. Something which is defined by a brutal journalistic term as “femicide” But despite this, the family is considered sacred, a stronghold of morality, a political flag. Yet it is inside these very families, the founding core of our society, where in the end, “it is best not to dig too deep”, that the most serious crimes against the weak, whether they be women, the elderly or children, are committed.
The play is not based on real-life accounts, but on the works of Pirandello, the “father of our middle-class theatre - continue the actresses and directors - who founded a large part of his thoughts on the family and the problems of relations between men and women. It is through Pirandello that we have decided to tell a contemporary story”.
“When the four Mitipretese, who I have known and admired since their period at the Academy, came to my house to ask me to collaborate in their project, in reality, the project was already well defined and active - says Andrea Camilleri -. They had worked meticulously, with lucid rigour, taking lines and scenes from the vast repertoire of Pirandello in order to compose another, new and original play, but with the words of Pirandello. When I had finished reading it, I thought that this was the play on the middle-class that Pirandello would have liked to have written but didn’t have the courage to do so. I simply helped put a few pieces in place”.