Illustration by Andrea Serio
FERSEN PRIZE 2023
SCIABbADai
Written and directed by Gabriele Marcelli
Performed by
Luigi Pisani
Natale Russo
Jonah Marcelli
Sciabbadai is the voice of three different souls, a saturnine drama about being an artist, a Jew, a priest, about being innocent. A song of anger and nostalgia for what has been lost, but also a hymn of joy and trust in the choices one makes. And to the memory that survives only when it is transmitted.
AUTUMN 1943. Lino Colombo, a Roman Jew who escaped the raid on the Roman ghetto, flees towards the countryside hoping to find shelter in a small church he encounters along the road. He is not an ordinary man: until 1938 he was a famous actor, singer, cabaret artist, and interpreter of Trilussa's poems. And one of those poems, "Dreams", follows the entire drama with its verses: a man dreams every night of finding himself in a castle where he will finally see all his desires of love and friendship fulfilled. Now Lino Colombo is alone, his life is no longer worth anything, he is hunted, scared, and obsessed by the memory of his past. Inside the church, he meets Don Mario, a bizarre parish priest who, after some hesitation, agrees to host him for a night on the condition that Lino recites a piece from his repertoire. Lino also meets Gianni, a shy, curious, and no less enigmatic eight-year-old. Those two initially enigmatic souls will help him rediscover his strength and transport what he thought had been lost forever. And to become the protagonist of his destiny again...
This play received the patronage of the Municipality of Rome's Department of Culture, the Jewish Community of Rome, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI), and the recognition of the National Association of Italian Partisans (ANPI).
On April 20, 2023, the text was awarded the FERSEN PRIZE
for contemporary Italian dramaturgy, at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan.
HISTORICAL REFERENCES
- From September 1938, the promulgation of fascist "racial laws" affected 43,000 Jewish citizens considered "foreign bodies" to an alleged "Italian race" and enemies of Italy. Even artists were not excluded from the persecution rules. In fact, theatrical and musical performances by Jewish authors, actors and singers were banned, as well as the elimination of texts by Jewish authors and the cancellation of road signs dedicated to illustrious representatives of the Italian Jewish community.
- The first deportation of 1022 Italians of Jewish faith to the Auschwitz extermination camp was carried out in Rome, following the raid of 16 October 1943. Another thousand Jews were discovered and deported during the nine months of the Nazi occupation of Rome, by the Italian and German police. The fugitives could count on a vast network of solidarity: private citizens, but also religious institutes, orphanages and parishes, which opened their doors to the refugees.
- The contribution that Italian Jews made to the Resistance was very important: over one thousand joined the partisan corps as fighters.
- The "Castelli Romani" area was the scene of a heroic partisan guerrilla war, whose commander was Pino Levi Cavaglione, a Genoese Jew who led effective offensives against the Nazi oppression. One of these, which is also the most sensational action in the history of the Italian Resistance, is mentioned in "Sciabbadai": it is the explosion of the "Ponte delle Sette Luci" on the Rome-Formia railway line, which killed more than 300 German soldiers, on the night of December 22, 1943.
THE ACTORS
Illustration by Andrea Calisi
LUIGI PISANI graduated from “Teatro Azione” School in Rome with a degree in drama. After joining Massimo Ranieri's theater company, he starred in his "Richard III" and in three comedies by Eduardo De Filippo which were broadcast on the Italian national television network RAI Uno. He made his debut on the big screen in 2010, a starring role in Mario Martone's blockbuster on the Italian Risorgimento "We Believed", with Toni Servillo and Luigi Lo Cascio. He is a performer in several TV series, including "Gomorrah 2 and 3", as well as several productions for Netflix. He lends his voice to important foreign productions and Pixar animated films.
NATALE RUSSO graduated from the National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Rome with a degree in drama. In his forty-year career, he worked with masters and artists of performing arts in Italy and France, focusing his studies on the Commedia dell'Arte, collaborating with the Piccolo Teatro of Milan. Among his cinematographic experiences, he acted in "And the Ship Sails On" directed by Federico Fellini. He is also an interpreter in several Italian TV productions.
JONAH MARCELLI is ten years old and this is his first theater experience. He is bilingual in English and Italian, plays the drums, and is a great fan of rock, blues, and traditional Neapolitan folk music.
REVIEWS
“A masterpiece...
intense and brilliant!”
“The two 'older' actors are amazing. The little one brings light and tenderness to the play... The construction of the characters and their stories is impeccable and told with light strokes of pure poetry.”
“Tonight I saw a heart-wrenching show, written and expertly directed by Gabriele Marcelli, played by Luigi Pisani in a state of grace, together with a touching Natale Russo and the little Jonah Marcelli with an incredible tenderness and spontaneity. A sweet and heartbreaking story, which recalls the great cinematography of Ettore Scola, a historical period that has torn our country apart, a piece of rare purity for which the public empathizes with emotion, a page of history that recalls the darkest periods of our country. A show that deserves a long run and which we hope will return to our scenes as soon as possible.”
“At the end of the play the story didn't end for me, but it continued to flourish in my thoughts, activating a sort of collective memory inside my body... It didn't just talk to me about the past, or how important it is to keep it alive, instead I had the wonderful sensation that I could also act in the present, in my daily life with the awareness of how much each of us can determine the meaning and direction of our actions, even when it seems that life takes away every resource, every form of solidarity and beauty.”
“Moving and engaging. Hope, in the end, always wins.”
“Sciabbadai is a beautiful jewel! The theater is truly the only rite that can re-dedicate us all to listening, acceptance, forgiveness, growth, non-violence, sacrifice, gratitude, reason, and will to recognize ourselves in others, and "God" as a noble emanation of humanity, purity, and peace. A show for everyone, written and directed by Gabriele Marcelli, with three extraordinary actors, Luigi Pisani, Natale Russo, and the young but great Jonah Marcelli.”
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