War and peace

Lev Tolstoj's masterpiece, War and Peace, is on stage at the Argentina Theatre, directed by Luca De Fusco. The show is part, together with Anna Karenina of 2023, of a sort of diptych of the two of the greatest novels of nineteenth-century Russian literature. In this theatrical staging the director deliberately chose not to change the historical context of the work, updating it and setting it for example in the present day, in the context of the conflict in Ukraine or the Middle East. The play, on the contrary, remains faithful to the text of the great Russian writer, also because it addresses universal themes such as the eternal contrast between war and peace, love and death, tyrants and the people, which have always marked the history of humanity.

Written by Tolstoj between 1863 and 1869 and published in the magazine Russkij vestnik, the novel tells about the events of two great families of the high nobility, the Rostovs and the Bolkonskjs, against the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars - from 1805 to the overwhelming insurrection of the whole Russian people in 1812 - and the founding of the first Russian secret societies. Compared by its author to the great Homeric poems, full of philosophical, scientific and historical references, the story seems to combine historicity and dramaturgical strength with more metaphysical aspects.

With, in order of appearance, Pamela Villoresi, Federico Vanni, Paolo Serra, Giacinto Palmarini, Alessandra Pacifico Griffini, Raffaele Esposito, Francesco Biscione, Eleonora De Luca, Mersila Sokoli, Lucia Cammalleri.

Photo credits: courtesy of Rome Capital official site