The Comedy of Misunderstanding masterfully interpreted by Tato Russo, who stages the Menecmi at the Teatro Delle Palme in Naples
It has not been denied Tato Russo and yesterday 12 March 2015, at the premiere of his undisputed masterpiece, The Menecms, has again given the audience of the Delle Palme of Naples a masterly interpretation and a comedy that even for a second has bored or annoyed.
The Neapolitan artist brings his "Neapolitan Twins" to the Italian theaters for at least twenty-five years, collecting well over 600 replicas, all very successful, despite the passing of the years make itself felt. Tato Russo, however, always manages to give us a good performance as an actor, thanks to the support of his company of artists up to every role played.
The Menecms take inspiration from the play of Plautus, "Menecmo", but they follow their own personal path thanks to the Neapolitan re-elaboration of Tato Russo, who manages to rewrite history in an original way while leaving certain peculiar aspects unaltered. The narration is centered on the events of two twin brothers, identical in all, even in the name that after years of separation, due to the disappearance of one of the two, they find themselves in the same city without knowing each other. From this expedient springs one infinite series of misunderstandings, ambiguity, misunderstandings, misunderstandings and errors that result in hilarious situations able to entertain the audience from beginning to end.
The show is set in aancient Neapolis, at times almost modern, recreated on stage by the scene of Tony Di Ronza that reproduces a section of street with in the foreground two typical Roman houses and parts of statues and broken columns in the background, symbol of a city now decadent that moves between ruins and ancient glories.
In this setting all the scenes are played, dominated by the skill and histrionics with which Tato Russo manages to interpret both the protagonists, the two Menecmi that are not seen by 30 years, succeeding in a perfect work of transformation and juggling to perfection between the opposite characters of the twins. One cultured and refined, the other vulgar, provincial and scammer, have two completely opposite personalities that Tato Russo highlights simply by changing his mantle.
Menecmo with a ragged dress will continually meet friends and family from the refined mantle of Menecmo, giving life to that Comedy of Art and Equivocal of which Plautus was a master. The shoulders of Russo, the parasitic slave brush and the tonto slave Messenione, interpreted by Massimo Sorrentino and Rino Di Martino, give an even more comical rhythm to the narration, never being able to distinguish their owners and generating a chain of problems and double senses which will also involve the most refined Menecmo's wife and lover.
The histrionics of Tato Russo will lead to an exhilarating ending, in which the enigmas will be unveiled with different twists, and in which the comedy takes up again the themes of classicism, using a metatheatre in which the fiction is unveiled itself on the stage.
A show not to be missed, full of comic gags and brought by good actors. On stage at the Teatro Delle Palme in Naples up to 15 March 2015.
