
From TotΓ² to the Gallo brothers. Meet some extraordinary interpreters of Neapolitan theater.
In order to understand Napoli, after TotΓ², it is impossible not to talk about the Theatre in Napoli or Napoli in the theatre. Yes, because the border between the two worlds is so thin that it is difficult to distinguish it. The first theatre company of which there is certain news in Napoli dates back to the distant 1575, even if this new practice of organising shows must have been widespread a few centuries earlier, but for now, there is no certain historical trace of it. Teresa Magale, a great researcher and currently associate professor of Performing Arts at the University of Florence, in her book βTra mare e terra. Commedia dellβArte nella Napoli spagnola (1575-1656)β(Between sea and earth. The commedia dellβArte in the Spanish Napoli) published by Bulzoni describes, in about 500 pages, what the characteristics of Neapolitan theatre civilisation were. With original documents, the author explains the main cultural dynamics of the actorsβ lives in a period of time that goes from the formation of the oldest company of the Art known to date (1575) to the devastating plague of the mid-seventeenth century (1656). Over time, Megale has given Napoli and its theater a leading position in the Italian and European context, already with its most typical mask that was Pulcinella. But apart from this brief historical photo and not going too far back in the centuries we cannot help but start with Antonio Petito, a great theater actor and, at the same time, playwright who inherited from his father, Salvatore, the role of Pulcinella mask and is considered, to this day, the best interpreter of the same. It was always his father who made him debut by giving him his mask during a beautiful theatrical performance in the historic Teatro San Carlino in Napoli. Petito was the leading figure of the Neapolitan theater of the 19th century. Raffaele Viviani is responsible for the rediscovery and relaunch of the author Petito when, in 1941, he staged βSo’ muorto e m’hanno fatto turna’ a nascereβ (I died and they let me born again). The second great pillar of the Neapolitan theater, after Petito, was without a shadow of a doubt Eduardo Scarpetta. Scarpetta was born in Napoli on March 13h, 1853 and the De Filippos also descend from him, who with Titina, Eduardo and Peppino were an important branch of his great lineage. Scarpetta was the founder of a new theatrical tradition both as an actor and as an author. He began in the grip of hunger with the aforementioned Antonio Petito and then became the most important actor and author of Neapolitan theater between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. We owe him the modern dialect theater and he specialized, very particularly, in the adaptation of French pochade to the Neapolitan language; while, for other works, he wrote comedies on the social life of Napoli at the time. How can we forget, for example, the very famous “Miseria e nobiltΓ ” (Poverty and nobility) brought to the big screen by TotΓ² in 1954 who plays the mask invented by Scarpetta: Felice Sciosciammocca who accompanied the historical one of Pulcinella and the very funny “βO Scarfalietto“(The bed heater). From Eduardo Scarpetta was born the lineage of the De Filippos, his natural children from his relationship with Luisa De Filippo, from which were born the aforementioned Titina, Eduardo and Peppino. Titina began her early artistic career in her father’s company and as a child was used in male roles, such as “Peppeniello” in Miseria e NobiltΓ , while Eduardo, at only 14 years old, was hired by his stepbrother Vincenzo Scarpetta in his company. Together with his sister Titina and only a few years later Vincenzo Scarpetta also associated the last of the De Filippo brothers, Peppino, to the company. In 1927 Eduardo De Filippo formed his own company with Michele Galdieri, a great playwright and screenwriter also from Napoli, to which he associated Peppino and Titina. On this occasion Eduardo met the American Dorothy Pennington, whom he married the following year. In 1931 Eduardo, Titina and Peppino founded the βCompagnia del teatro umoristico, i De Filippoβ. With this company the three of them definitively established themselves. Over time the association associated the most talented Neapolitan comic and dialect actors: such as Agostino Salvietti, Tina Pica, Dolores Palumbo, Pietro Carloni and many others. Later the three argued and broke up this great association in which Titina after a serious heart problem retired from the scene while Eduardo and Peppino, instead, continued in their dual role as actors and authors.
Another great family was that of the Maggio family of which the founder MimΓ¬ Maggio was the favorite interpreter of the most important authors and the best impresarios of the CaffΓ¨-Concerto of the early 1900s. MimΓ¬ married Antonietta Gravante, a successful cabaret artist with whom he had 16 children and 7 of these (Rosalia, Pupella, Dante, Enzo, Beniamino, Icario and Margherita) followed in their parents’ artistic footsteps. The most appreciated of all was the unforgettable Pupella who accompanied Eduardo De Filippo and her participation in “Natale in casa Cupiello” (Christmas at Cupielloβs) remains in everyone’s eyes, known, above all, for the usual: ” : βTe piace βo presepe?β (Do you like Presepe?).
Currently the artistic dynasties continue in Napoli and, among the many, we like to remember the brothers Gianfranco and Massimiliano Gallo, sons of the singer Nunzio Gallo who in a recent interview said:
βUnlike children who dream of being astronauts, we have always known that we would become actors. When you have a goal, your path does not get lost in a dispersive wandering. For us, theater is an illness, we do it because we cannot do without itβ.
As you can see, the tradition continuesβ¦