All those who have a day past the narrow door of 17, rue de la Gaîté, were afflicted for a few months to see the Comédie-Italienne closed. With its facade of pale blue for a long time, it is a mantle of Harlequin, with lozenges of color, that covered her up -she’s intrigued those who didn’t know and knew nothing of the beauty of this unique setting where one relives in the atmosphere of Venice at the time of Carlo Goldoni.
five years ago, Attilio Maggiulli was left in a gesture of despair, and was tapped gently with his car, the grid of the Cock of the Elysée Palace… It was serious. He was thrown into a psychiatric hospital while there is only one remedy is successful for him: the work and the theatre, the working theatre.
” READING AS Theatre: the favourites of the week
The time has passed. Maggiulli has searched for solutions, but had to sell its collections of costumes, and if he has found some friends to support it financially, nothing is yet resolved.
Except that the Comédie-Italienne has reopened. Inside, it is always so beautiful and we are very happy to find this small room valuable, with its red armchairs very comfortable, its painted walls, its masks, its plateau of modest dimensions, but the artists who work at the Comédie-Italienne know how to use wonderfully well.
This is not Goldoni, who has been called to the rescue, but a contemporary author, Fabio Fabi. In The Handkerchief of Marilyn Monroe , we find links with the life of Attilio Maggiulli, as it has, in fact, a small handkerchief that belonged to the actress of legend, and that he had given it quite a few years ago the owner of legend that was, in New York, Leo Castelli. You can read the story, once passed the walls of the theatre, and we recommend that everyone do so.
Marilyn is 80 years old
The tale imagined by Fabio Fabi brings together two people. An old lady, still ravishing – indeed it is Hélène Lestrade! – and a young woman of aristocratic and sweet, Valentina Vandelli. It is believed that he is a grand-mother who loses a little head and his little daughter, loving and patient, who visits him… It is a little more complicated than that, but the outcome illuminates all the episodes of the story, the pieces of the puzzle are being put in place. It brings to mind some episodes of the life of Marilyn because the woman who is said to have over 80 years of age claims to be really heartbreaking actress, the woman is a bit clueless and often the victim…
As always, here everything is done under the sign of the delicacy: a set of Jean-Claude Roffié, lights of Gilles Thomas, costumes and props from Dominique Ekman, music by Michaël Roux, the whole team is great and united. The staging of Maggiulli, with Claudine Durand-Simon, the assistant, is a firm, fluid. The two performers are fine, a mobility, a grace that delight. A treat. Don’t be the last to see, to relive, to revive the Comedy-Italian style!
● “The Handkerchief of Marilyn Monroe”, Comédie-Italienne, 17, rue de la Gaîté (Xiv). Tel.: 01 43 21 22 22. Opening times: mar., fri., sam. at 20: 30, the game. 19 h.-Seat: 20-30 €.
