Monologues, what a passion! An almost digital way of attending theatre

We all know that digital has changed our way of thinking, that our attention span has dramatically lowered and that we no longer watch videos that are more than a few minutes long.

Well, perhaps the amazing series of monologues at the Teatro Fara Nume in Ostia could be defined as the ‘digitalisation of theatre’. The actors, who competed for the Monologues Award organised by FITA Lazio, had a maximum of 8 minutes to go on stage with a monologue, but most were shorter.

The award was conceived 8 years ago by Annibale Izzo, the artistic director who runs a theatre company in Tarquinia. He tormented me with phone calls to make sure the organisation was impeccable: “for a theatre company, travelling is complex and expensive, but with friends we felt the need to compete on stage: that’s when the idea of ​​the monologue was born. It is easier to organize the journey of a single actor, and the short acting times really allow us to experience moments of intense confrontation capable of tickling the attention of the spectator”.

And I was lucky enough to be chosen as a judge in the national competition! I believe it was one of the most intense emotions of my life as a spectator and theatre commentator.

The marathon was long, as a jury we arrived at 4 in the afternoon, but the show went on from 5 until 11 pm with a short break for the dinner buffet.

21 monologues with actors from 11 regions. The actors chose excerpts from the classics but also original subjects, to which a separate prize was dedicated.

And among the original subjects some stood out for the emotions they transmitted to the audience by telling stories somehow connected to their lives. Like that of ‘Posso’ (May I) by Chiara Maccioni on the suicide of a boy or ‘Che il mandorlo fiorisca’ (Let the almond tree blossoms) by Vincenzo Catanzaro dedicated to a woman whose husband had been killed.

Caterina Tattoli's monologue ‘Armida’ touched my heart, then touched my stomach and then stunned me, because the joyful story of an old lady placed in a hospice but who still loves life and wants to get married reminded me of so many personal emotions. At the end of the evening, I went to thank her.

Others stories were a delight for the intellect. I must personally say that when I heard the story of ‘Employee of the Month’ and saw the way it was performed by Lorenzo Bonaccorsi, I found myself as a girl at the Teatro Argentina (the most important in Rome) watching a classic Russian tale. The rhythm, the subject and the interpretation happily took me back in time.

Others were simply a laugh like the story ‘Women of Death’ performed by Rita Caterina Mattacchini who introduced herself as an inconsolable widow and then, in a crescendo of laughter, discovered she was her husband’s murderer. This monologue also won the prize of the young jury.

I was also intrigued by the story told from impossible perspectives: like those told in the first person by Polifemo (played by Salvatore Belardo), by Penelope (played by Serena Carrara) or by Desdemona (played by Maria Grazia Toppi) who surprised us with their new point of view. And I must emphasize that the choice to use dialect to interpret these parts gave a touch of healthy surrealism that I like so much.

Two actresses chose the ‘Madonna delle Rose’ (Our Lady of the Roses), the famous monologue taken from ‘Filumena Marturano’ by Eduardo de Filippo, and gave two different versions: Maddalena de Marco was fully dressed and acted with pride, Ornella Sansalone was in a dressing gown and acted in an almost introspective way. An incredible difference in emotions from the same text and each of us found ourselves in the spirit that most resembled her.

The award for best staging went to the monologue of the very young Nadia Marsano, a excellent girl of only 11 years old with the monologue ‘Una carezza di sole’ (A caress of sunshine) dedicated to a grandfather.

The first prize went to Calogera Abbene with the monologue ‘Che il mandorlo fiorisca’. Calogera is from Sciacca (Sicily) and the one who awarded her was the president of FITA national who is Sicilian: it will be the story treated, it will be the geographical proximity, but the tears were not lacking.

The presenter Cristina Valeri was very good, and especially the host Andrea Serafini who entertained the audience with a concert during the jury's work. Time practically flew by while Andrea, who teaches at Santa Cecilia, accompanied the talented young soprano Sofia d’Annibale.

I am looking forward next edition!