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IL CAMBIO DEI CAVALLI
Such an original artist, who has traversed the history of Italian entertainment and is a cornerstone of Italian culture, certainly needs no introduction. For her speaks a unique career, spanning more than sixty years, between theater, radio, cinema and television, characterized from an unmistakable style, based on an intelligent and subtle use of irony.
An attentive reader of society and its dynamics, she associates the value of the actress with that of the author and intellectual who modernized language, invented masks and coined authentic prototypes of comedy, Franca Valeri has never ceased to be innovative, while always remaining faithful to herself and her cultured, refined, dense, but also incredibly popular language.
to confirmation of his inexhaustible artistic vitality, today gives us his latest dramaturgical jewel, The Changing of the Horses, in which the usual, biting sarcasm is married to a marvelous wit of writing. It is a text that, as always, engages, amuses and makes us think thanks to the strong and unhinged manner of the characters who animate it, the lively dialogues full of intelligent and amiable hostility, the brilliant and caustic jokes, and the wealth of reflections and aphorisms.
"There is never abstraction in her writing: yes she laughs a lot but, compared to the great authors of the absurd, Franca Valeri gives to every joke, even the seemingly most abstruse, a solid existential anchor. And it is a pleasure to treasure her disillusioned wisdom and her extraordinary talent for remaining intimately and authentically young because she is tirelessly curious and helpful."
The characters
An ironic and refined old lady; a very rich entrepreneur (son of the old lady's historical lover, who died from some years ago); a kind of escort, social climber. The entrepreneur whizzes, indolent and annoyed, along his path of financier and whoremonger, but more and more often he indulges in a stopover, the changing of horses, precisely, from this unlikely and understanding stepmother of his. He engages in bizarre, sideways conversations with her, but they touch deep into his existential weakness. And the girl? The girl, despite everything, will eventually marry him.
Changing horses has been over the centuries what is now called (for now) getting gas. The journey resumes, the horses are fresh, the tank is full. The theme fascinates me metaphorically since, while theater has been able to touch sublime dramatic heights, as well as take on the onerous task of interpreting the civil cause, it is certainly, from always, the best container of the secret ambiguities of human relationships.
The protagonist of this play has in the lives of two men (one narrated, the other present), a comforting and at the same time clarifying role, which is the meaning of true complicity.
The two men are father and son, which often sets the stage for the problem of generational conflict.
I wrote again for Urbano Barberini, trusting in his refined ability to interpret the restlessness of modern man.
to two generations had to be opposed by the third, here a young woman. Her impishness could also mask the "weariness of her horses."
But it is of course a comedy play.
Franca Valeri
Besides to that unmistakable and indispensable mix of grace, irony, wit and levity that has built over the years her stainless and very personal style, Franca Valeri's new comedy fascinated me because of the grace and originality with which she meditates on the generational problem, on the weight and encumbrance of Fathers on the lives and futures of Sons, especially if they are sons...
It seems that Franca Valeri, from always devoted to those surgical and irresistible "inspections" into the female soul, in The Change of Horses, enjoys to probing with her pen-bisturi the unresolved knots of the male one, stymied by the paradigmatic Hamletic question "to be or not to be," declined, of course, to her way.
Interesting rhapsodic phrasing, highly original "caesuras" and "staccatos" give the new play that very special lightness of depth, typical of the truly great, who, after having observed and understood so much, know how to look at themselves well and shelter themselves from the danger of taking themselves too seriously...
Joseph Marini
by Franca Valeri
with
Franca Valeri
Urban Barberini
Alice Torriani
directed by Giuseppe Marini
scenes Alessandro Chiti
Franca Valeri's dress is by Roberto Capucci
Urbano Barberini's suits are by Sagripanti
Alice Torriani's gowns were edited from Helga H. Williams
lights Michelangelo Vitullo
assistant director Riccardo Francia
stage director Alessandro Sorrenti
assistant set designer Fabiana Di Marco
seamstress** Maria Rita De Mercurio**
set design **O.C.S.to. **
Wigs Spools
Pompeii footwear
service **S.T.to.S. **
transportation Botticelli
press office Margherita Fusi
photographs Federico Riva
administrator Angelo Montano
Society for Actors production in collaboration with Compagnia Urbano Barberini
Born to Milan but Roman by adoption Franca Valeri (surname chosen in homage to writer Paul Valéry) boasts an exceptional career: actress, screenwriter, director, author. She lands in the theater almost by chance. After revealing her satirical talents in the social and intellectual salons of Milan, where she enjoys to giving life to to characters inspired by contemporary customs, made of frivolity and hypocrisy, faithful mirrors of a bourgeois environment.
In the beginning it was the radio, when as "Miss Cesira" she raged on programs such as Il rosso e il nero, a training ground for the actors of the 1950s "Italian comedy". Then, with the advent of television, she was "Miss Snob" and achieved popularity as "Mrs. Cecioni" (to be precise, "the daughter of sora Augusta, the one married Cecioni"). The theater and, above all, the cinema saw her as a discreet and intelligent protagonist: thanks to her versatility and amazing ability to observe and expressively reproduce - mercilessly, to sometimes to the point of cruelty - the most eloquent tics of bourgeois respectability, she was able to carve out for herself a highly personal and stylistically unmistakable space. 1951 was the year in which she made her debut in the theater (with the company of the Gobbi, from she founded together with Alberto Bonucci and Vittorio Caprioli) and also in the cinema, with a small part in _Luci del varietà _ by Alberto Lattuada and Federico Fellini. from then, without ever losing sight of the theater and television, she acted alongside the "sacred monsters" of Italian cinema: Totò (very lucky her appearance in Totò to colori in 1952), Vittorio De Sica, Alberto Sordi and Sophia Loren. She is directed from directors such as Dino Risi(Il segno di Venere, 1955; Il vedovo, 1959), Mario Monicelli(Un eroe dei nostri tempi, 1955), Luigi Comencini(Mariti in città,1957), Steno(Piccola posta, 1955), Mauro Bolognini(Arrangiatevi, 1959), Alessandro Blasetti(Io, io e gli altri, 1965, La ragazza del bersagliere, 1967). In the 1970s and 1980s, numerous are his hilarious appearances to television varieties and, more recently, much appreciated are his funny appearances in sit-coms and dramas.
Throughout all these years Franca Valeri has never stopped doing theater: we limit ourselves to to mention the most significant rehearsals of the last decade: Mal di Madre by Pierre Olivier Scotto, directed by Patrick Rossi Gastaldi, Alcool written and directed from Adriana Asti, Possesso by Abraham Ben Yehoshua, directed by Toni Bertorelli, La vedova Socrate from Friedrich Durrenmatt, from lei written, directed and performed, _Il Giocatore _di Carlo Goldoni, directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, Carnet de Notes from lei written and performed and _Les Bonnes _di Jean Genet, both directed from Giuseppe Marini. The last play from her written and performed, Non tutto è risolto, directed from Giuseppe Marini, was performed in major Italian theaters.
Not only an actress, but also a screenwriter, director and author, she has published numerous books: Il diario della signorina Snob (Mondadori 1951, Lindau 2003), Le donne (Longanesi 1960), Le Catacombe (Cappelli 1961), Questa qui, quello là (Longanesi 1965), Toh, quante donne (Mondadori 1992, Lindau 2004), _Tragedie from ridere _(La Tartaruga 2003), Animali e altri attori (Nottetempo 2005) _Di tanti palpiti _(La Tartaruga 2009), Bugiarda no, reticente (Einaudi 2010), Non tutto è risolto (Einaudi 2011), L'educazione delle fanciulle (with Luciana Littizzetto, Einaudi 2011) and the updated edition of Le donne (Einaudi 2012).
He devoted the early part of his career to film and television activity. Among the many films to in which she participated are Franco Zeffirelli'sOthello, Opera by Dario Argento, Miss Arizona next to Marcello Mastroianni, Acque di primavera by Jerzy Skolimowsky, _La Bibbia _by Roger Young, Come mi vuoi by Carmine Amoroso, Les montagnes bleues by Paolo Barzman, Maria Josè by Carlo Lizzani, _La vita cambia _accanto to Mariangela Melato and Isabella Ferrari, Una sola debole voce 2 and _Nel mio amore _accanto to Licia Maglietta. Numerous participations to television productions, including international ones, including 3 TV series in Britain, TECX and Straithblair (prod. BBC), and recently _Cinderella _by Christian Daguy.
In 1996 he debuted to theater with an Italian novelty by Daniele Falleri, Sulle spine, which, in addition to to receiving excellent feedback from from critics, marked his meeting with Franca Valeri and the beginning of a fruitful artistic collaboration that still sees them together on stage today.
His latest shows, which always see him in the leading role, include Non tutto è risolto by Franca Valeri directed by Giuseppe Marini, Mal di madre by Pierre Oliver Scotto directed by Patrick Rossi Gastaldi, _Possesso _by Abraham Yehoshua directed by Toni Bertorelli, Il giuocatore by Goldoni directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, Blue Orange by Joe Penhall directed by Franca Valeri, Processo to Giulio Cesare by Corrado Augias directed by Giorgio Ferrara and _39 Steps _by John Buchan directed by Maria Aitken.
In 2012 he started his own theater company by bringing Sulle spine to the stage again with a new direction and staging. The play was recently performed to Rome and at the Institute of Italian Culture to London. In 2013 he is at the Spoleto Festival with a text by Neil LaBute, Enchanting - Lovely Head, directed by Marco Calvani.
After studying at Weber Douglas in London and the prestigious Stella Adler Academy in Los Angeles, he maintained an abiding interest in contemporary English and American dramaturgy. He translated and performed for the first time in Italy John Penhall, one of the most highly regarded English playwrights.
In addition to his work as an interpreter, he now works as an agricultural entrepreneur. He is administrator, with the title of Bailiff of Grand Cross, of the Bailiwick of St. Sebastian in the SMOM. He is founder and coordinator of the "Salviamo Villa Adriana" Committee, which fought against the establishment of a landfill in the vicinity of the UNESCO site and still fights for the enhancement and protection of the ancient Agro Romano. In 2012 he took over the artistic direction of the Festival "Salviamo Villa Adriana" aimed to to raise awareness about the economic-tourist potential of the area and to to propose an alternative of sustainable development in an archaeologically precious area.
Graduated from the Accademia d'arte Drammatica Paolo Grassi in Milan in 2007, she worked in theater with Massimo Castri(Tre Sorelle), Alvis Hermanis(Le Signorine di Wilko), Carmelo Rifici(Visita al padre) and Gabriele Lavia(Memorie dal Sottosuolo). He continues his training by following national and international internships (Antonio Latella, Luca Ronconi, Danio Manfredini, Chiara Guidi, Fausto Paravidino, Margie Haber, Jordan Bayne). from a few years he collaborates with young theater directors such as Thea Dellavalle and Antonio Mingarelli.
In cinema she works with Valerio Mieli in Dieci Inverni, Alina Marazzi in Tutto parla di te, Lucio Pellegrini in È nata una star, Claudio Noce in Good morning Aman. On television he has taken part in a number of TV series, the latest currently airing Le mani dentro la città directed from Alessandro Angelini. His first novel, published from Fandango libri, will be released in the fall.