TEATRO.IT NOVEMBER 12th, 2010

"A senso unico", by Sasà Russo

by Luca Ticconi

From the beginning the night talk between Barbara (Eleonora Micali) and Grazia (Sara Adami), in the living room full of chincagliere, brings back to the beginning Rome

Twentieth century. However, few references are enough to understand that the city in which they live is the contemporary one, and then the artificial language sounds so strident, so far from the usual ways of conversing. But it is a moment, and two women no longer young pose as divas of a forgotten time, and we can only become passionate about their world as graceful as it is fake. They chat with sarcasm, sometimes pungent, they press each other on either side of a table full of memories and perfumes, as if they were the reflection of the other in the mirror of a dressing room. In fact, they have the air of someone who has just left a show: dressed up as the first women in a magazine, they remove make-up and undress with all the indolence that suits women. They claim to be burlesque, to "live burlesque, using a term that has come back into fashion in recent years. But the sad truth is that they are nothing but two whores. The young playwright and director Sasà Russo makes a small play in two acts which is a jewel of irony and polite reflection. Debut show of the theater company Iposcenio, it was performed in the gathered space of the Manhattan theater in Rome and will be repeated from 25 to 28 November at the Teatro Studio Uno, also in the capital. The staging is entirely based on the talent of the two performers, and built in the intimacy of an evening dialogue which, as in the most successful dramaturgy, is enveloped in spirals of apparent frivolity to tell a lot. The actresses lead the viewer into a nostalgic and welcoming space, and lull him to the sound of successful jokes that snatch more than a bitter laugh, towards the knowledge of two female figures (in their own way) heroic. Barbara and Grazia are two true friends, complementary in character and attitudes. The older one, a bon ton mistress who repeats to the other, and to herself, the reassuring formulas of a way of life made of controlled words and femme fatale cynicism (the depth of Eleonora Micali's voice is extraordinary).

The other, her disillusioned pupil, tries to conform to that image with humor and some perplexity. They love each other like sisters, despite everything. Despite their condition as women forced to sell themselves to the highest bidder. They find in the bur / esque, in the feathered buoy waved like a flag, the refuge of an otherwise poor life of affections, proudly defined by them as "one-way", that is without any second thoughts and useless deviations. They do not realize that their elective relationship already makes them participants in a two-way living. Because where one will go, the other will follow. After a more carefree first part, which flows quickly to the rhythm of the songs proudly sung by the ladies, here is a shadow of regret. As the wine flows, the night turns into dawn and the two, which seem to be girls again (in this sense the choice of two such young actresses is winning), they enjoy pulling the yellowed photographs of their past conquests out of their treasures. Memories consume coarse laughter, giving way to some recrimination and, finally, a hope for the future, promoted by Barbara herself, who made self-deception her reason for living. And yet, despite the veil of sadness, irony remains. The same irony that allowed them to survive and that, perhaps, will save them.