The innkeeper

The innkeeper (in italian La locandiera), a classic of Goldoni's theatre, is on stage at the Teatro Argentina directed by Antonio Latella.

The comedy in three acts, written by Carlo Goldoni in 1752 and performed for the first time at the Teatro Sant'Angelo in Venice, has as its protagonist Mirandolina, an attractive and shrewd young woman, who manages an inn inherited from the father. Two nobles who court Mirandolina are staying in the inn: the Count of Albafiorita and the Marquis of Forlipopoli. Furthermore there is a third client, the Cavaliere di Ripafratta, grumpy and misogynistic, who boasts of never having fallen in love. Mirandolina, stimulated by the Knight's behavior, tries to attract him to her, so as to make him fall in love with her too, to make fun of him, succeeding. In the end, however, the young woman will decide to marry the waiter Fabrizio, as advised by her father on his deathbed.

Emblem of Goldoni's new theatre, The innkeeper, overcoming the schemes of  the “commedia dell'arte” in which previously the actors used masks to interpret fixed characters are replaced by the faces of the comedians, who impersonate the roles of everyday and real characters. Furthermore, the development of the story, previously entrusted to a summary plot and the inventiveness of the actors, is replaced by a sequence of events. Furthermore, Mirandolina, although descending from the mask of Colombina in the commedia dell'arte, is an unusual character for the comedy era, because she is represented as a strong and independent woman who uses her wit, her intelligence and her charm to obtain what he wants.

The skilful direction of Antonio Latella, an award-winning protagonist of the contemporary theater scene, has the merit of bringing the female protagonist back to the foreground, which Goldoni places for the first time at the centre of the story and of the stage, thus anticipating the contemporary theatre.

With Sonia Bergamasco, Marta Cortellazzo Wiel, Ludovico Fededegni, Giovanni Franzoni, Francesco Manetti, Gabriele Pestilli, Marta Pizzigallo, Valentino Villa.

Photo credits: courtesy of Gianluca Pantaleo