Geppy Gleijeses in the role of the liar protagonist for a hilarious comedy at the Teatro Mercadante in Naples!
The 8 March 2016, al Teatro Mercadante of Naples, the premiere of the show was staged The Bugardo by Carlo Goldoni in the adaptation of Geppy Gleijeses, also interpreter of the comedy, and Alfredo Arias, director.
Gleijeses, who played the protagonist, put us in front of an original and amusing transposition of the text written by Goldoni, in which the real main characters can be considered the Lies told right from his character, from the beginning to the end of the show.
The comedy begins by immediately falling into the metatheotral mechanism which gives it away: the Cannavacciuolo family is presented, a company of actors that staged the comedy and which tells the lies of the character of Lelio Bisognosi.
Indeed, these are witty inventions, as he defines them, and are nothing more than a way to enjoy life at best. And all this, the endless series of intricate events and made more complicated by the light-hearted attitude of Lelio, immediately starts off from a lie.
The intricate web of lies
The protagonist, returned in Venice after a stay of twenty years in Naples, spent there to give vent to his desire to live adventures thanks to his imagination and his continue deception, he comes across the serenade that a young man, Florindo (played by Luchino Giordana), is dedicating to his beloved Rosaura. Immediately decides to attribute the merit of this dedication singing and to woo, together, the beautiful Rosaura (Marianella Bargilli) and his sister Beatrice (Valeria Contadino).
The interweaving of lies deriving from it, supported by the faithful servant Arlecchino, will also involve the father of Lelio, Pantalone, and that of the two sisters. The latter, unaware of the young man's constant deception, had already decided to marry one of his two daughters to Lelio. But all the story can only end at worst for the protagonist, who will be forced to give in under the weight of his own deceptions, after playing the role of a rich nobleman, a friend of himself in the eyes of his father and many other personalities invented from time to time. At first repented, is sudden in changing e stay true to the lie, the only means of obtaining advantages and living a life that can be defined as such.
A condemnation of lies?
The resulting message is one condemns to lies, scams and scams that do nothing but hack those who need one or one invitation to live life more lightly? The balance of the scales tends more to the first conclusion, but the answer is moreover left to the public that, at the end of the performance, will find more time to reflect.
Time that during the show is mainly dedicated to laughter, thanks to the speed of dialogue and the strength of the surrounding characters, first of all the aforementioned assistant Arlecchino, played very well by Lorenzo Gleijeses (in the role also of Brighella, Florindo's assistant).
He is entrusted with the role of speck and, with its Venetian accent, the quick and elastic movements and the continuous support for deceptive behavior of Lelio manages to kidnap viewers immediately, and the contrast between the two dialects, his Venetian and the Neapolitan of Lelio, do nothing but accentuate the mechanisms of fun.
Condemnation or acquittal? The word to the public
The show is then enriched by a 'another metateatro scene in which, at the end of the first act staged by the Cannavacciuolo, the family grants a pause to chat at the same time of trivial matters (such as the choice between anchovies and sardines for dinner) and more substantial issues such as decadence of Venice, in a parallel between the past and the present of the city.
A show, that of Gleijeses and his company, which is revealed as a great game, to take up the words of the same Gleijeses, and that leaves the viewer the choice between condemn a behavior like that of Lelio o acquit, by virtue of a more reckless life and less sterile.
It will be on stage until March 13 2016. More information in our article.
Photo: Tommaso Le Pera
