
The endurance of the actress in today’s world on and off stage – By P. Reeti
The avant-garde theatre in Napoli
Artistic expressions are the children of the context in which we live and give us more realistic and truthful information about the evolution of man and his thought, allowing us to grasp important nuances of history.
The image, the form, the story, the verse, the music, the ideas of art always reflect the moments of history and its becoming.
If we think of Eduardo De Filippo, a great mask and playwright of international fame, we must place him in the context in which he lived. Eduardo was born in Napoli in 1900 and lived through two world wars, the post-war period and the economic boom. After Eduardo Scarpetta, with De Filippo a new way of doing theater was born, characterized by a new, more Italian and codified connotation. In fact, he oriented himself, in a Pirandellian way, by telling the story of the post-war period, the crisis of the bourgeois family and society.
Eduardo’s current popularity on a national scale has also been maintained thanks to the diffusion of his works through television programs which, in the 60s, were in the homes of almost all Italians.
Meanwhile, right at the end of the 60s, when there was already talk of nuclear power, the American echo and an air of revolution arrived in Italy which was expressed, in the artistic field, with further changes.
They were years of protest and in the country a way of making and living art developed which criticized the tendency towards packaged art and its commercialization.
A way of making theater was born which had different intentions, outside of rigid codified structures.
Avant-garde theater was born in the wake of the American “Living Theater” of Julian Beck and Judith Malina.
This phenomenon also took hold in Napoli. A new theater was created, experimental, collective, which denied being a mere product for a consumer public, upsetting the certainties of the dominant culture.
Actors such as Peppe Barra, Renato Carpentieri, Lina Sastri, Lucio Allocca, Mario and Maria Luisa Santella, performed in quarries, garages, and basements. They revisited the classics, dressing them in philosophy, poetry, and thought without abandoning the relationship with the gesture linked to popular tradition.
Lidia Ferrara’s successful debut
In this context, Lidia Ferrara fits in. After studying with Mario Ciampi, she made her debut with Mario and Luisa Santella in the role of a lively waitress, in their adaptation of an Elizabethan text they titled “Alice -Alice”, alongside Ida Di Benedetto and Mico Galdieri. With the same company, she played the lead role in Oscar Wilde’s “Salomè” in Rome. Her performance was a success. She was 23 years old and beautiful and talented. She was appreciated by the public and critics. Her dance of the seven veils was sensational, all the newspapers talked about it, she was even asked to pose for PlayBoy. A proposal that she did not accept because she was focused and dedicated to the theater, radio and dubbing. In fact, in addition to being a good actress, Lidia Ferrara has perfect diction, and a clear, warm and captivating voice that she has lent to the radio and documentaries that have toured the world. In Rome she also worked with Valentino Orfeo, Annibale Ruccello, Nino Taranto, Gennarino Palumbo, Ugo D’Alessio, Luigi De Filippo, and Eduardo De Filippo.
L.F.:“I was in Rome where we were rehearsing for my third show with Mario and Maria Luisa Santella. A colleague of mine said to me – Let’s bring a photo to Eduardo.- He lived in Rome, on Via Aquileia, we went there and brought a photo. We knocked on the door and a lady from the apartment opposite appeared. – The maestro is not here – she said – do you want to leave it to me? – Delia, my colleague, told me that it wasn’t worth it and that she would probably tear it up and throw it away. But I replied that since we had gone that far it was worth trying. In fact, shortly afterward Eduardo wrote me a letter in which he complimented me and apologized, telling me that he wouldn’t be doing theater that year. Two years later Eduardo had RAI call me and summoned me to his house.”
With Eduardo Lidia took part in ‘Natale in casa Cupiello’ (Christmas at Cupiello’s) and ‘Le voci di dentro’ (The voices inside). After that she left Eduardo’s company and stopped to start again after almost twenty years, years during which she became a mother, playing the most important role of her life. When she resumed her theatrical activity it didn’t take long for her to get back on the crest of the wave. Today she is a fascinating seventy-two year old who still acts, sings and dances. She has also participated in TV Series such as ‘La nuova squadra’ (The new squad) and is a reciting voice at the San Carlo theater in Napoli.
Lidia has written a show entitled “Eduardo e…non solo” (Eduardo and…not only) which she has staged together with Barbara Lombardi, Sara Tramma, Enzo Santoro, Agnese Laurenza Alessandro Sorace Elisabetta Nappo.The theatrical piece includes sung and recited pieces, a tribute to Eduardo and other greats of the 20th century.
L.F.:“I made a work that includes music and theater. It begins with the song ‘Uocchie c’arraggiunate’, which was Eduardo’s favorite song, I narrate while scenes from theatrical works and slides are projected… I proposed a path that goes from Eduardo to Pino Daniele. A recording of Massimo Troisi is included, who says that when a love ends you should be as careful as when it begins, and it ends with ‘Terra mia’ by Pino Daniele, where we all sing together”.
What’s theater today
Lidia is not very enthusiastic about the theater that is done today. She has known that theater of sacrifice where the ‘cold’ was also physical, in basements, garages, cold rooms and even barefoot and two rags for a costume.
L.F.:“The theater that is done now is a type of theater that I don’t like. And I’ve said it all! When I was acting with Nino Taranto we were preparing ‘A Figliata’ (the sonship) by Raffaele Viviani directed by his son Vittorio. And, if Patrizia Capuano and I, who were the youngest, didn’t say the lines as he intended, he wouldn’t let us get up. And he would say -’e pietto, ‘e pietto piccerè!- It was hard but it was a great school. Dolores Palumbo was there too. Even though some of us young people, including me, had already acted with the greats, during rehearsals we would go backstage to steal the craft. The thing that saddens me is that I am 72, Tommaso Bianco is 81… The youngest is Vincenzo Salemme who is 63. In ten, fifteen years, there will be no one left of that school and we were not given the opportunity to teach, to give something to the young people.”
Even though she doesn’t like the theatre that is done today, she is confident in young people and recognizes their talent. We must also consider that today’s theatre pleases the public.
L.F.: “In the 70s there was a more select audience, certainly more difficult. Today people laugh at nothing. A bad word is enough to make them laugh. Eduardo once told me that when he performed in Russia, even though they didn’t understand Italian, the audience laughed at the same point where the Italian audience laughed. What does this mean? That even though they didn’t know the language, they laughed at Eduardo’s gestures, at his mask. There’s another thing. When I go to the theatre today I only see old people in the audience. When I was a girl and I went to see Eduardo, Albertazzi, even some quite heavy things, there were lots of young people. Today, why aren’t there young people in the theatre? I think because the culture of theatre no longer exists. You only do cabaret, you act for easy laughter… There must be laughter but it seems that today everything is more superficial. In the 70s there was a great theatrical commitment. When experimental theatre was done, avant-garde theatre was performed even if there were 4 people in the audience. Today everyone is a master and there is a great confusion between amateur and professional actors. I have met the masters. Even some who were not directors were masters, like Gennarino Palumbo for example.”
Last November Lidia acted in two farces in Salerno and Napoli: ‘Natale in casa Passaguai’ (Christmas at Passaguai’s) and ‘Seduta spiritica’ (Seance) where she played the role of a fake sorceress, very funny. Even though she is a professional with a great school and important theatrical works behind her, before going on stage she is always excited.
L.F.:“When you go on stage. No matter how hard you try, you will never have total confidence and this is typical of the actor. Because you are always afraid of forgetting something. The theater is beautiful also for this reason.”
The woman behind the scenes
Lidia was a girl of the 70s and still is. Feminist, warrior and lover of culture. She has suffered in life and made many sacrifices. Despite this, she is a beautiful woman, strong and full of sweetness and positivity. She gives value to what she had and has, also because what she had she obtained by relying only on herself. She has many friends who appreciate her sincerity, many fans who “steal” her way of doing theater and she continues to have suitors. She holds close to her heart the memory of a great theater that remains preserved in the cold cellars of the 70s.