Italian Women's Theatre, 1930-1960

Description

Between 1930 and 1960, popular female dramatists, including Paola Riccora, Anna Bonacci, Clotilde Masci, and Gici Ganzini Granata, set the stage for a new generation of feminist theatre and the development of contemporary Italian women’s theatre as a whole. Now largely forgotten, the lives and works of these dramatists are reintroduced into the scholarly conversation in Italian Women’s Theatre, 1930–1960. Following a general introduction, the book presents a selection of dramatic works, rounded out by commentary, performance histories, critical analyses, and biographical information.  

 Introduction: Italian women’s playwrights, 1930–1960 

Chapter 1: Paola Riccora 

It Must Have Been Giovannino 

Chapter 2: Anna Bonacci 

The Fantasy Hour 

Chapter 3: Clotilde Masci 

The Excluded 

Chapter 4: Gici Ganzini Granata 

Men Are Always Right

Sujets

• Women's Studies
• Social Science
• Theater
• Performing Arts
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Theatre
• General officer
• General
• Film

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 19 septembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781841506081
• Langue: English

Extrait

Italian women s theatre, 1930-1960:
An anthology of plays
Translations and critical introductions by Daniela Cavallaro
First published in the UK in 2011 by Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2011 by Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Performance permissions: Anyone wishing to perform any of the plays should contact the heirs to the estates of the playwrights.
Copyright 2011 Intellect Ltd
Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge copyright for material used in this book. The author would be pleased to hear from those copyright holders she has been unable to contact.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Series: Playtexts Series Series editor: Roberta Mock Series ISSN 1754-0933
Cover designer: Holly Rose Copy-editor: MPS India Typesetting: John Teehan
ISBN 978-1-84150-555-8
Printed and bound by Hobbs, UK.
To my three children, who have long wanted to see their names in print
Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Italian women s playwrights, 1930-1960
Chapter 1: Paola Riccora
It Must Have Been Giovannino
Chapter 2: Anna Bonacci
The Fantasy Hour
Chapter 3: Clotilde Masci
The Excluded
Chapter 4: Gici Ganzini Granata
Men Are Always Right
Works cited
Appendix
Acknowledgments

For their contribution in helping me retrieve biographical information about the authors, published and unpublished plays, theatre programmes, photos, playbills, newspaper reviews, TV and radio recordings, I am indebted to many individuals and institutions in Europe and the United States:
For Chapter 1, on Paola Riccora and Sar stato Giovannino, I am particularly grateful to Francesco di Marzo and Beatrice di Bello, grandchildren of the writer, for their welcoming and generous sharing (in person in Naples and via email thereafter) of photos, published and unpublished texts, reviews, articles and information; to Ernesto Cilento, of the Archivi Teatro of Naples, for his help in locating and reproducing iconographic material; and to the Gruppo Teatro Tempo of Carugate for allowing me to download from their archives two unpublished plays by Riccora.
For Chapter 2, on Anna Bonacci and L ora della fantasia, I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Anna Teresa Ossani, Dean of the Faculty of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Urbino, for her generous sharing of information and material on Anna Bonacci and her works; to Salvatore D Urso, custodian of the Bonacci Papers in Falconara, for giving me access to folders of reviews of Bonacci s plays, selected correspondence sent by Albert Verly to Bonacci, photos of the author, and Alan Melville s unpublished adaptation of L ora della fantasia; to the librarians of the Dallas Public Library, particularly Lisa Lipton, for sending me a copy of The Dazzling Hour owned by Jos Ferrer, Ferrer s letter to John Rosenfeld, and information on Rosenfeld himself; to Stephen Ferguson, Curator of Rare Books at Princeton University Library, for directing me to the Ketti Frings Papers at the Wisconsin Historical Society; to the librarians of the Biblioteca Civica Centrale of Turin, particularly Patrizia Bonino, and to Philippe Henin, of France-Soir, for their help in retrieving and scanning images from publications in their archives; and to Fernanda Bastos, of the Biblioteca/Arquivo Teatro Nacional D. Maria II of Lisbon, Francine Delacroix, of the Biblioth que historique Ville Paris of Paris, Giordano Fenocchio, of the website www . teatrodel900.it , and Marike Schultz- Meyer, of the La Jolla Playhouse, for sending photos, reviews, and programmes from their collections.
For Chapter 3, on Clotilde Masci and Le escluse, I would like to express my thanks to Maricla Boggio, secretary general of the SIAD (Italian Society of Dramatic Authors), for giving me access to the archives of Ridotto, the official publication of the association; to the publishing company ncora of Milan (and especially to the editor, Matteo Verderio), for giving me access to their publications for educational theatre, particularly Scene femminili, and for scanning covers of their magazines; to Tadek Lewicki, professor at the Faculty of Science of Social Communications at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome, for allowing me access to the educational theatre collection in their library; to Roberto Zago, of Gatal Teatro, for sending copies of two plays by Masci archived in their library in Milan; to Morena Medri, of the Biblioteca Comunale F. Trisi of Lugo, for sending me a copy of a play by Masci archived in their library; and again to the librarians of the Biblioteca Civica Centrale of Turin for their help with images from Masci s plays.
For Chapter 4, on Gici Ganzini Granata and Gli uomini hanno sempre ragione, I am especially thankful to Giorgio Trinchero, for sending me a copy of a Ph.D. dissertation, then meeting with me and sharing memories and photos of his first wife Carlotta (Gici) Ganzini; to Ganzini s sister Signora Wu Paccagnini; to Ganzini s co-author Claudio Caramaschi for his memories and for forwarding the text of unpublished radio programmes; to Suor Giuseppina Parma, of the Istituto Marcelline in Milan, for information about Ganzini s early playwriting and publications in the school newsletter; and again to Matteo Verderio of ncora, Professor Tadek Lewicki of the Pontifical Salesian University, the Gruppo Teatro Tempo, and Roberto Zago of Gatal Teatro.
I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the Teche RAI, in Rome, that gave me copies of TV and radio broadcasting of plays by Riccora, Masci, and Ganzini Granata; of the theatre section of the SIAE in Rome, for helping me with copyright issues, and for providing me with copies of plays by Masci kept in their archives; and of the staff of the Burcardo Theatre Library in Rome, who welcomed me in my annual visits.
I have received significant support at the University of Auckland as well. At various stages of this work, several postgraduate students helped with the editing and bibliography: Clorinda di Tommaso, Dr Ellen McRae, Dr Gwyn Fox, and Dr Alfio Leotta. Digital media specialist Tim Page has been able to transform faded photos into publishable images. The librarians at the InterLibrary Loan Service of the University of Auckland have been always obliging, especially when helping me retrieve adaptations of L ora della fantasia from various parts of the world. Associate Professor Bernadette Luciano has offered her valuable feedback on several versions of this work. The University and the Faculty of Arts have provided me with research grants that allowed me to visit several archives and individuals in Italy. To all of them go my sincere thanks.
Finally, Dr Daniel J. Stollenwerk has followed, encouraged, and supported this project from beginning to end. He truly has been my personal miglior fabbro . Mille grazie.
Introduction

Italian women playwrights, 1930-1960
T his book celebrates a rich and yet largely unknown history of theatrical production by Italian women between 1930 and 1960, beginning during the fascist era and ending when the recognized pioneers of Italian women s theatre Natalia Ginzburg, Dacia Maraini and Franca Rame began their careers. 1 In four sections, I introduce the life and works of four Italian women playwrights who were active and successful well before the explosion of feminist theatre: Paola Riccora (pseudonym of Emilia Vaglio Capriolo, 1884-1976); Anna Bonacci (who also published under the name of Igor Velasco, 1892-1981); Clotilde Masci (who also published under the name of Francesca Sangiorgio, 1918-1985); and Gici Ganzini Granata (pseudonym of Carlotta Ganzini, who also published under the name of G. C. Broom, 1920-1986). This volume provides the first English translation and commentary of a representative play by each of these four playwrights, thus illustrating three decades of Italian women s playwriting and depicting Italian women s lives from the early 1930s to the late 1950s.
Paola Riccora began her theatrical career translating and adapting French vaudevilles, only later writing original works, many of which are still being staged in theatres today. Her most popular was the comedy Sar stato Giovannino [It must have been Giovannino] (1933), created specifically for the theatre company of Eduardo, Peppino and Titina de Filippo, who would become among the most celebrated personalities of twentieth-century Italian theatre; in fact, Riccora s play was one of their first stage successes outside their native Naples. 2 In 1938, the comedy was made into a film titled Sono stato io! [It was me!]; Peppino and Eduardo de Filippo again played the leading male roles of the sweet-talking, good-for-nothing nephew, and the clumsy uncle Giovannino, who was considered responsible for every misfortune that happened in the family.
L ora della fantasia [The fantasy hour] (1944) is undoubtedly the best-known play by Anna Bonacci. Beginning in 1926, Bonacci wrote several stories and theatrical works, but did not meet resounding success until the early 1950s, when the director Mario Camerini made her comedy L ora della fantasia into the film Moglie per una notte [Wife for a night], and the play itself was staged in France. After the French triumph, Bonacci s comedy was staged around the world, gaining international recognition. In his 1964 film Kiss Me, Stupid the director Billy Wilder adapted to the 1960s American context the plot of L ora della fantasia, in which a model wife and a prostitute exchange roles for one night.
A prolific writer for the Catholic educational theatre and their all-femal