The one on stage at the Teatro San Ferdinando is a splendid Pygmalion, of which it certainly cannot be said that George Bernard Shaw does not have something to be proud of.
Excellent, accurate and precise transposition of Benedetto Sicca, which accurately translates the work from the post industrial London to the Naples of the '900.
A play written and recited with passion, and it shows, because only the passion justifies the attention to detail that in this Pygmalion it is taken care of in every aspect.
And that's how high-end London becomes Chiaia, that of the "new rich" becomes the vomer, the east end of London becomes the lob (Borgo Santa Lucia), conversations about London time become chatter about the recipe of eggplant parmigiana, and the gossip becomes messy.
An exquisite Gaia Aprea grappling with the changing character of Luisa (Eliza Doolittle), poor flower girl, a miserable father and a father who seeks an opportunity for redemption by asking two gentlemen, known by pure chance, to turn it into a real lady.
Gentlemen who immediately take the opportunity to play with the life of the young, betting on the success or failure of the metamorphosis.
Magistral also the interpretation of Paolo Serra, struggling with a bitter and arrogant Professor Puoti (Professor Higgins), the son of his ego and his own fragility.
Uncertain and fluctuating character, undecided between the desire to satisfy their superiority by making fun of others, and the desire to leave space for someone else in their soul.
A contrast that will manifest itself in all its inconsistency when the florist, who becomes a woman aware of herself, will ask to have what she considers to be the deserved attention due, now, to her new social status, more manifest than consistent.
And this is how the conflict in question finds its moment of protagonism. On one side, Professor Puoti, who on one hand would like to let himself go to love, while on the other he lives the intellectual compromise to which he should descend, and the florist who, manifesting the infantility of those who just bloomed, refuses responsibility and download on others their own choices and the compromises that are derived from them, and from lamb who asks the wolves how to eat meat, he blames them for not being able to drink anymore.
A fun and well-made show that will be on stage up to the 20 March.
There is no excuse for letting it slip away.
