Giuseppe Cederna modern ‘Tartufo’ at the Quirino theater in Rome

“There is always a great risk in ‘modernizing’ or rather in transferring the temporal sphere of a classic into the contemporary world. The directorial idea in this case moves the family in crisis from a small and narrow seventeenth-century bourgeoisie to a small and closed middle bourgeoisie, we could say ‘Pasolini’, of the twentieth century, more precisely of the sixties of the economic boom “. This is what Giuseppe Cederna observes when describing his ‘Tartufo’ by Moliere to AdnKronos which, in the version directed by Roberto Valerio and flanked on stage by Vanessa Gravina, will be staged from tomorrow until Sunday at the Quirino theater in Rome. “In this crack of total insecurity of the head of the family, of the male of the house, of the husband, ignored by his wife and children, this ‘snake’, this little man, intelligent and at the same time vampire and rapacious, with his own undeniable charm as a curator of souls, who is Tartuffe, a sort of mysterious and wonderful guru, with a shameless ability to lie that makes him devoted only to himself and to his own advantage, to his acquisition of power, with an ‘I’ that surpasses God “, underlines Cederna describing his character. Truffle, underlined in the director’s notes,” is shrewd, fascinating, dangerous; his gestures and his expressions betray a sanguine, depraved, obscene nature, he sails in the restless waters of dissimulation oscillating between an affected elegance and a raw materiality: it is sensual and disturbing, so much so that it reminds us of something diabolical. Most of the time, the stage versions of the ‘Tartuffe’ have focused on the hypocrisy of the character, but today q his equation must be partially modified: not a simple impostor but a nonconformist prophet, a dark angel or a merciful demon who breaks into a family, upsets it, punishes it, revolutionizes it, until it is absorbed “. Every subterfuge will always be the justified means for reach the ultimate goal of conquering women, with the corollary of resorting to any ‘truffle’ lie to deny even the most apparent of truths and the very reality of things. “The audience laughs at something they know and at the same time they are afraid of”, observes Cederna, almost evoking the viewer’s desire to ‘exorcise’ the atavistic fear. “Among other things, I am a very measured actor also physically, with ‘ Tartufo ‘I am discovering a new tension and a new exuberant dimension, first held in a shady area, which is’ freed’ from the transport with which he lives the adventure of conquering the woman of others, until he is the one who suffers the seduction from her, who accuses him of abusing his charm: what more bewitching compliment for a man? “. (by Enzo Bonaiuto)