It seems that FF from Florence has always nourished a passion for the world of drama. An author since the age of 25, he has written three novels and a couple of plays. He early discovered his preference for drama, asserting that a play is closer to life, as a more concrete, more complete approach of human languages, thanks to suggestive gestures, chosen sounds and lights, various musics and songs, even dances when necessary. And he explored the theatre universe in different complementary directions, not only as a playwright but also as an actor, a director and a teacher. By learning and teaching all the rules of the game, by using and transmitting the right ropes, he managed to obtain the best possible control of the subject. And as everything is in "perpetual becoming", he cultivates permanent research in his drama laboratory.
The Company, first named "Low cost" started in 2005, then Daniela T.(present) and the prestigious dancer Daniela Panini joined what became "Underwear Theater" along with the Lab and its students.
At this day, UT has produced quite a number of plays among which Shakespeare's Hamlet, Othello, J.Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Salomé by Oscar Wilde, Caino ( Byron), Orfeo and Euridyce ( Ovid), Oedipus Re and Antigone( Sophocle), Goldoni's La Villegiatura, "Carnai", a piece from Dante's Inferno, "Amor volato Undique", an adaptation of the semi-scenical concerto Carmina Burana.....and two pieces written by FF, one after Nietzsche and La Commedia necessaria performed tonight.
Among the influences Frittelli claims for, there is first the XXth century Italian director Carmelo Bene who, after a career in the seventh art (cinema) , returned to drama at the age of forty and adapted Hamlet and Othello ( difficult to leave aside Sh for a director !) and Salomé. CB created the concept of a depersonified actor called "an actorial machine", a kind of abstract figure serving the universal target of any drama. On the other hand, the French Antonin Artaud for whom theatre is at the origin of any artistic creation sees the theatre as an almighty creature endowed with all powers. Beckett and Ionesco and their language and stage minimalism also have a weight. And Giorgio Strehler; who founded the Milanese Picolo Teatro, boldly adapted WS's tragedies as if the world was a big circus and men not free of their movements whatsoever. Last but not least, the oldest, greatest playwright ever, WS also analysed the human condition and its limits by his famous " Life is a stage and we, men, are mere players"( in As you like it).
All these playwrights and theatre specialists bring their constantly evolving thought about what a play and a player represent, but also how the classics can be presented, what message can be conveyed and what can be the very essence of writing in the contemporary world.
FF's creation, enriched by his perfect knowledge of all these previous masters, is original, both( as scholars say) "in the manner and in the matter". As regards his scenography on the whole, there is a subtle mix of traditional methods ( respect of the costumes of the epoch in "La Villegiatura" for example) and, on the other side, simplified, minimalist clothes and colours ( black and white) in his Shakespeare adaptations. His stage often appears almost empty with a beautiful spectacle of sound and light and he keeps the right to use personal accessories such as pieces of furniture belonging to him, elements of his past and childhood ! His theatrical language often includes songs, dances ( oriental ones) in order to make the show accessible to all sorts of cultures and/ or to universalize the setting in a sort of no man's land.
In HIS play'La commedia", he escapes in his way from the tradition to give names to characters ; called by their initials, L and F are accompanied by two abstract entities, cinema and theatre spirits. Suddenly we reach the dimension of the symbolic language which is totally innovative.Doesn't it remind us of conceptual art in painting for example ? We attend a sort of conceptual drama. It's all the more significant since the play stems from strongly autobiographical elements, evoking the tragic death of the author's brother at the age of 20.
The weight and the pain of such a violent drama seem to have turned into a personal unexpected quest for serenity. At the eve of his 50th birthday,the author has transformed his suffering into wisdom and interior peace. It is the result of 20 years on stage, acting and working, during which theatrical action has acted like a catharsis , revealing FF to himself, to his real nature widely tainted with optimism and love of life, simply. Drama has been the best way to salvation as it has liberated our writer from his suffering. ...As F.Nietzsche would say ; " Become what you are" . So he did !
Frittelli, as we said, has chosen to adapt many figures of mythology such as Oedipus, Orfeo....Isn't it also a way, more or less conscious , to shed a new light on human nature, showing that it is imperfect by essence ? The process of redemption can only come from the divine creatures. We saw, in his Orfeo, that perfect love and eternal happiness are inaccessible to man, bound to fail in all he does. The notion of absoluteness remains incompatible with mankind, definitely.
In "Caino' (Byron), the title character will kill his brother in the most horrible situation . We know the author's pain in the loss of a bro. Without referring to simplistic psychology, we can wonder whether there is not a kind of fascination about the theme of the brother's loss....Both die, Abel and Lorenzo. Death is unfair. Maybe this evocation of the Bible will relativize the hope of happiness on earth. Maybe we must be simply satisfied to be alive and accept the whims of human destiny. Here the myth is at the service of wisdom...and it helps in the reconstruction of a wounded human !
So, by performing, by giving voice to misfortune, one understands and dominates better the limits and the flaws of our condition. The author speaks through what he writes, the actor experiences the pains he embodies and the audience receives a message, however sad it may be . The process of healing is on the way thanks to dramatic creation....
Let's finish on WS, the eternal model for everyone, who succeeded in crossing five centuries. In F presentation of Sh's plays, what matters above all is the fact that, beyond the interest of the plot, major characters become archetypes of the human types that will survive forever or so ! Hamlet is death and madness, Otello is jealousy, Romeo and J : impossible love, Caesar : political treason, for the plays he chose.
Like symbols, like myths, archetypes belong to eternity, apart from temporal contingencies. F's works has taken this way of universalisation and of the theatre as a cure of the evils of our condition. Eventually, plays are the first steps to acceptance.Drama resembles to Philosophy ! We, humans, can take the path of a form of lightness and optimism. Whether the plays are comedies or tragedies, in all centuries, the purpose is to reach entertainment ! We are just humans, limited in time and imperfect. Let's rejoice and escape from our fortune by a few hours watching a show ! Everything passes, even life. So the proverb says...
.F.Frittelli has understood this principle and belongs to the vanguard of contemporary theatre. He is brilliant, tonic. His actors at Underwear are young, motivated and efficient...Twice he went to Avignone, with Orfeo, and Caino and had a real success ! He will probably go again.He is more creative than ever. He will go far, no doubt. Drama for him was a therapy which gave him the means to be efficient in his creative work and to get rid of his dark side.
And he has a voice ! Very special, intense and deep...it gives him the potential to take part in all sorts of events, to read texts wherever they come from. When you've heard him once, you're impatient to listen to him again. He has also an impressive , rare presence on stage !
We can wish the best to Filippo Frittelli and his company . FF has become a figure that counts now !