From 9 until 28 April in national première at the Teatro Carignano in Turin, Stéphane Braunschweig, one of the leading directors of the contemporary theatre stage and Artistic Director of the Odéon - Théâtre de l'Europe in Paris, will direct La vita che ti diedi (The Life I Gave You) by Nobel Prize Luigi Pirandello.
The Director deepens his link with Pirandello's writing: after the international successes of Vestire gli ignudi (Dressing the Nude), Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore (Six Characters in Search of an Author), I giganti della montagna (The Giants of the Mountain) and Come tu mi vuoi (As You Desire Me), he directed this new play for the Teatro Stabile di Torino.
Written in 1923 for Eleonora Duse, The Life I Gave You is the great dramatist's most poignant text on the theme of motherhood and mourning.
«How can a mother survive the death of her son?» the playwright asks himself. Simply by claiming that he is not dead. Or, more accurately, by pretending that he is alive.
Pirandello makes our certainties, our preconceptions falter: despite knowing that reality will eventually put a stop to the illusion, he makes us realise how much we need illusions - but conscious illusions and not the lies we tell ourselves - to remain standing. How much we need theatre to face life.
On stage Daria Deflorian, Federica Fracassi, Cecilia Bertozzi, Fabrizio Costella, Enrica Origo, Fulvio Pepe, Caterina Tieghi, costumes and collaboration on sets Lisetta Buccellato, lights Marion Hewlett, sound Filippo Conti. A Teatro Stabile di Torino – National Theatre and Emilia Romagna Teatro ER T / National Theatre production.
Photos: (c) Luigi de Palma
