Dario Fo's masterpiece "Mistero Buffo" on stage with Matthias Martelli

New much-anticipated appointment with the theatrical season “Kallipolis” directed by Alfio Zappalà, organized by ArchiDrama, with the patronage of the Municipality of Giarre, between the historic and renovated Cine Teatro Rex and the Cine Teatro Garibaldi di Giarre where on Saturday, March 14 (afternoon at 5:30 PM, evening at 8:30 PM) the show “Mistero Buffo” by Dario Fo and Franca Rame will take place with Matthias Martelli directed by Eugenio Allegri (production Teatro Stabile di Torino). Mistero Buffo is considered the masterpiece of Dario Fo. Eugenio Allegri directs Matthias Martelli who magnificently reprises this extraordinary work: the actor is alone on stage, without tricks, aiming to engage the audience in the dramatic action, swiftly transitioning from comic jest to poetry, to human and social tragedy. All of this with a new and original language and interpretation.

Presented for the first time as a “popular jester performance” in 1969, it is a singular work that inspired many authors and actors to the point of becoming a model for the genre of narrative theater. It was very successful and was replicated thousands of times. It is performed in a reinvented language, a mixture of many languages strongly onomatopoeic called grammelot. In Mistero Buffo, every sound, verse, word, or song, when combined, form an inseparable semantic whole, of which the narration of events is only a framework. The style, irreverent and taken to excess, recalls the medieval performances executed by jesters and storytellers. The central point of the work is the awareness of the existence of a popular culture: the true cornerstone of the history of theater.

The same Matthias Martelli, as an actor, author, and director, on the mornings of Thursday March 12 and Friday March 13 (for students of the high schools in the Ionian-Etna area) will be the protagonist of the show “Dante the Jester” as part of the theater festival “The School Theater of Life” directed by Alfio Zappalà, organized by ArchiDrama once again between the historic and renewed Cine Teatro Rex and the Cine Teatro Garibaldi in Giarre. The show is enriched by the presence of Lucia Sacerdoni on cello; lights and sound by Marco Ava (produced by Melotondo). Matthias Martelli, with his personal path of “jester” theater, is the ideal interpreter to bring new generations closer to the discovery of Dante's work. The show presents Dante's life, from childhood to exile, from political passion to romantic passion, intertwining the events of his existence with the sublime verses of the Vita Nova and the Divine Comedy, in a plot that reveals behind the figure of the poet who invented Italy, a fragile and complex man, rich in hopes and conflicts, capable of rendering personal events eternal and sublimating his vision in the raw and grotesque verses of hell, reaching the lofty heights of Paradise.

Let us remember that Matthias Martelli (Urbino (1986)) is an actor, playwright, and jester. He graduated in history from the University of Bologna and trained at the Performing Arts University of Turin, performing on stages in Italy and Europe with Mistero Buffo by Dario Fo and Franca Rame, directed by Eugenio Allegri, co-produced by the Teatro Stabile di Torino. He writes and performs various monologues for important Italian Theatres Stabili, including: Raffaello, il figlio del vento (2020), a show about the life of the painter Raffaello Sanzio co-produced by Teatro Stabile dell’Umbria; and Dante, fra le fiamme e le stelle (2021), in which the story of Dante's life intertwines with fragments of the Vita nuova and the Divine Comedy. He has won the Alberto Sordi, Locomix, and Uanmensciò awards with Il Mercante di Monologhi (2017), which he wrote and performed, with over 300 performances to his credit. He won the Premio Nazionale di Cultura Frontino-Montefeltro for "the acting qualities acclaimed by public success and favorable reviews from critics and for his worthy achievements in the field of theatrical arts." He has staged several performative lectures, including The Universal language of Dario Fo, presented in March 2023 at Chapman University in Los Angeles.

The theater season “Kallipolis” directed by Alfio Zappalà continues with the following events: scheduled at the Cine Teatro Rex (showtimes: Friday afternoon at 6:00 PM - Saturday afternoon at 5:30 PM; Saturday evening at 8:30 PM - Sunday afternoon at 5:30 PM): on March 20, 21, 22 – Claudio Casadio in “Gli innamorati” by C. Goldoni, directed by R. Valerio; on May 14, 15, 16, 17 – Pippo Pattavina in “Il Piacere dell'onestà” by L. Pirandello, directed by G. Ferro. At the Cine Teatro Garibaldi (showtimes: afternoon at 5:30 PM – evening at 8:30 PM): on March 28 – Mario Incudine in “Archimede” by C. Di Quattro, directed by A. Pizzech; on May 2 – Gino Astorina in “Non è vero ma ci credo” by P. De Filippo, directed by G. Romania; on May 30 – Eduardo Saitta and Francesca Agate in “Lo scambio” by A. Capodici, directed by P. Milazzo.