De Profundis - Cancelled

The theatrical version of Oscar Wilde's De Profundis, the long letter (originally titled Epistola: in Carcere et Vinculis) that the great Irish writer wrote in 1897 to the young lover Alfred Douglas (Bosie), during the last months of his imprisonment in Reading prison, it was on stage at the Teatro Vascello, curated by Glauco Mauri, one of the greatest Italian theater artists.

In 1895, in fact, Oscar Wilde, a famous writer and playwright at the height of his success - three of his comedies were performed simultaneously in London theaters - was sentenced to two years of hard labor, the maximum sentence for crimes related to homosexuality. Added to the harsh prison, which deeply undermined his health, was financial bankruptcy (his books no longer sold and his plays were withdrawn from posters), the loss of his wife and two children, whom he never saw again, and the his house and assets seized. The writer, the esthete, who had enchanted the literary and social salons of London and Paris was banished and would die alone and in poverty three years after his release from prison in Paris.

During the imprisonment, towards the end of his sentence, thanks to the arrival of the new director, who was more sensitive towards the writer, he was allowed to use pen and paper, strictly forbidden by the harsh and severe prison regime to which the prisoners were subjected: in the morning the a sheet was given which was promptly taken up again in the evening. However, Wilde was only able to fully read what he had written upon his release from prison, when all the manuscript sheets were returned to him.

What emerges mostly from the work is a universal parable of suffering, of the value of art and love, which Mauri, with his elaboration work, tried to convey in his version, eliminating the too literary parts of the text.

With Glauco Mauri; translation by Camilla Salvago Raggi, theatrical version by Glauco Mauri, music by Vanja Sturno.

Photo credits: Glauco Mauri by Filippo Manzini