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Through
tragedy in verse, D'Annunzio managed to create a highly lyrical theatre,
founded on a very affected lexicon, able to give life to scenic suggestions
very close to the spirit of ancient tragedy. The author's acquaintance
with the theatre strengthened above all thanks to his relationship with
the great actress Eleonora Duse, who revealed to him the secrets of
the stage.
At
the same time as his affair with the great actress, D'Annunzio began
writing two one-act plays, "Sogno di un mattino di primavera" and "Sogno
di un tramonto d'autunno", both of which in 1898, and the tragedy, "La
cittą morta" (1899). In this last work, where the leading role was played
by the legendary actress, Sarah Bernhardt, the spectator is faced with
a tragedy brought about by atavistic situations resulting from the encounter-struggle
between the contemporary and the ancient Argolis tombs.
In
"La cittą morta" in fact, there is a clear desire to re-present the
Hellenistic world and to set the script during an archaeological expedition.
The protagonist is the archaeologist, Leonardo who, inside the tomb
he has just discovered by himself, raises the golden mask of the Atridae,
and contemplates the still intact and not yet decomposed corpses. And
from these eyes of centuries-old dead bodies comes a malignant exhalation
which overwhelms the mind of Leonardo. Upon coming into contact with
the air, the two corpses disappear into nothing and the archaeologist
is the only person to have seen them. At this point, the tragedy can
reach its natural conclusion. After coming out of the tomb, Leonard
is no longer himself and, driven by passion, he falls madly in love
with his sister Bianca Maria and can find no peace until he has killed
her. The atrocious crime is committed by suffocation.
In
Francesca da Rimini (1902), which was undoubtedly a big success with
the public, D'Annunzio recreated an ideal Middle-Ages full of overwhelming
and real passions. The plot, already narrated by Dante in the Vth Canto
of his Inferno, is universally known. The description of the love affair
of Paolo and Francesca, though full of carnal passion, is never obvious
and conveys the important resonant suggestions favoured by poetic verse.
However,
D'Annunzio's best known work, and the one that has continued to encounter
great success even in recent times, is "La figlia di Jorio", a pastoral
tragedy in three acts, staged for the first time in Milan in 1904. It
is set in the countryside at the time of Ferdinand I of Bourbon, in
the land of Abruzzo, in a world that lives in an undefined remoteness,
between legend and dreams, and which turns relentlessly around what
are, on the other hand, well-defined rules of behaviour, dictated by
a rigid, centuries-old tradition.
The
tragedy opens with the marriage of the shepherd Aligi and Vienda di
Giave.
Pursued
by a number of outraged harvesters, their home is visited by Mila di
Codra, a prostitute by profession, the daughter of the wizard, Jorio.
Everyone is inclined to send her away and leave her to her pursuers,
except Aligi who, suffering from an hallucination, defends her, making
out, behind her, the guardian Angel of innocence. The shepherd immediately
falls in love and decides to abandon his virgin wife. Aligi thus goes
off with Mila to live on a mountain, in complete chastity and with the
intention to soon go to Rome, to the pope, to ask for his unconsummated
marriage to be annulled.
The
situation becomes more complicated because Aligi's father, Lazaro covets
the prostitute. The old man climbs up to their shelter, wanting to possess
Mila by force. To save her from his violence, Aligi kills him.
According
to popular law, parricide is a sacrilege and Aligi must in turn be killed.
Thus, as if desirous of martyrdom, Mila accuses herself of the crime
to save her beloved and swears she has cast a spell over the young man
to make him think himself guilty. While Aligi is the one who suffers,
without acting, the play finds its prime mover in the character of Mila,
who becomes an expression of the superhuman with her lustful charm,
that attracts nearly all the male characters.
Vigorously
treated by the author, clearly outlined in the dramaturgical process,
consisting of characters sculpted as if in stone and victims of overwhelming
passions, La figlia di Jorio blends together two very distinct elements
- the rituality of an archaic, barbarous and rural society and a vibrating,
corporal language, lyrical and rich in the images of literary expression,
while consistently, D'Annunzio chooses the ethical-dramatic theme as
a fulcrum on which the entire stage action turns.
(traduzione
Interpres sas - Giussano)
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