IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA
‘The opera plunges us into some dark and sinister atmospheres that seem to belong to fairy tales written to educate young girls entering life, but the situation is different here, nobody is really bad and scary. And the girl in question can handle herself just fine. Staging a new production of the Barber is a challenge that takes courage and nonchalance. The opera is considered one of the funniest. And indeed it is. But humour can pass through many languages and styles. Personally, the situations which make me laugh the most are not necessarily the brightest or most colourful. Black humour is a style I feel very close to, and I find it suits this situation. In this production, we will not find the sandy and sunny Seville we know and love, but the fairy tale of a young girl tinged with black, segregated at home by a lascivious guardian. This kind of humorous language has a long and prestigious tradition that starts in literature and arrives at the art of cinema by way of the theatre, which has conveyed and released its vocabulary. But we can rest assured knowing it will end with “… and everyone lived happily ever after.”’
Ivan Stefanutti