‘Tweaking’ a De Filippo play
Following a successful run in Patras by the local regional municipal theater, a new production is opening at Athens’s Art Theater (Theatro Technis, located in Plaka) on Monday. «If on a Winter’s Night… De Filippo and Pirandello,» is a play by Vassilis Papavassiliou based on Eduardo De Filippo’s «Man and Gentleman.» What is special about his production is that the veteran actor and director has also written a part of the play, in which he directs and stars. He has written a short monologue, which serves as a prologue, and a third act, or epilogue, which replaces the regular one. How and why did this happen? «It happened, first, because this play has given me the opportunity to get some exposure as a writer,» says Papavassiliou. «For the past few years I have been writing a play based on the last will and testament of [Alexis] Minotis, which I hope will see the stage soon. The play is about an elderly actor dictating his will. But after all, I am making my debut as a playwright for the first time with this play. And this happened, secondly, because I had a score to settle with De Filippo. I really wanted to stage this play, but under the condition that I could tweak it a bit, destroy it in part, and base it on his relationship with Pirandello. He was a great admirer of Pirandello and at one point they actually sat down to write a play together, but Pirandello died before they got around to finishing it. What survives of this effort is a letter [from De Filippo to Pirandello], where he says, ‘I am proceeding with rehearsals as planned, I know that you are also present, etc.’ I used this letter as the basis for the prologue. The epilogue, on the other hand, my own third act, is a type of palimpsest, as it arises from my own perception of De Filippo’s play (the ‘missing’ third act), his relationship with Pirandello and my own abstract approach, which rests on these two. It is a palimpsest that resembles the labyrinth of literary adaption and this is why I gave it the title I did – which, of course, brings to mind Calvino’s ‘If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler,’» explains the artist. If this cocktail seems a bit hard to swallow, rest assured it is not. It is easy and light, even though it is open to so many different interpretations, and the characters allow Papavassiliou and the rest of the cast – Emilios Heilakis, Sophia Seirli, Athina Maximou, and others – to shine. In Act 1, the audience is introduced to a group of struggling actors in Naples who become embroiled in an adventure «that is revelatory of so-called ‘normal people’,» explains the writer/director/actor. In Act 2, the same actors are seen to live in comfort, while Act 3 takes place in a theater where a kind of mock trial is held over De Filippo’s «missing» act. Even by the end of the play, though, one question remains to be answered: Why replace De Filippo’s third act? «I don’t know,» answers Papavassiliou in a disarming manner. «In this business we can’t always know the reasons for something we do. Maybe because I needed to expose myself as a writer in a more well-rounded fashion. Anyway, no one is as pioneering in theater as when they follow the paths cut by others. Our words are the offspring of many different people and all that one can do, at best, is to add a hint of one’s own personal note.» «If on a Winter’s Night… De Filippo and Pirandello» premieres at the Theatro Technis (4 Frynichou, Plaka, tel 210.322.2464) on Monday.
