A man in a room. A desk, an armchair, an exercise bike. Speak speaks speaks in an unstoppable flow of thoughts and recriminations. He seems to be the son of the lockdown: the claustrophobia, the agitated themes, that move to stay still while pedaling madly, the sense of frustration, all refer to our most recent past. And yet that man expressed these things for the first time about forty years ago, and the actor who embodies him, Gigio Alberti, already said them exactly twenty years ago. That said, time for “Shut up everyone!” by Raffaello Baldini with the direction of Lorenzo Loris seems to have never passed. Fresh from that topicality that only great texts and great authors have.
Gigio Alberti, why the decision to resume a text already interpreted? And how does it compare to it twenty years later?
«I would take a further step back. About thirty years old I saw it interpreted by Ivano Marescotti in the Romagna dialect in which Baldini had written it. Something about this had escaped me, yet the character had struck me. I read the book, and then I carried it inside me for years, waiting for the right moment, and being the right age, to bring it to the stage. And yet when this happened, I was left with the impression that I had not given everything. And so here I am. Maybe today I will finally be able to express the right nuances to the work of what I consider one of the greatest poets and playwrights of our twentieth century. And if I still can’t, well, it means I’ll try again in another twenty years. ‘
What do you think makes “Shut up everybody!” So relevant?
«First of all there is the time we live: the experience of the lockdown was very similar to the situation that the protagonist lives: he has self-locked himself in a room, and it is from that condition that his reasoning starts. We too found ourselves with a lot of free time to work through our life in our heads. I confess that the beautiful docufilm “Train of words” that Silvio Soldini dedicated to Baldini also contributed a little to picking it up ».
Baldini passed away in 2005: did you have time to meet him?
“Yes, before starting to work on” Shut up everyone! ” the director (already then Lorenzo Loris) and I went to Santarcangelo to see him to get his approval for the adaptation in Italian. We met a person of great humanity, culture and irony, extremely available. He gave him the green light and provided important suggestions. He saw his knowledge of him in the field of opera and classical, even on music. But this time there isn’t: Loris said he wanted to “leave room only for the sound of words” ».
What are the themes your character talks about?
«Death, first of all, which is an ever-present theme in Baldini. And then family, children, school, immigration, music, the geniuses of the past that history has underestimated … he Expresses ideas on everything, even if not always shared ».
Angry?
“No, rather disappointed. It is understood, but not clearly stated, that he comes from a problematic marriage, which made him question everything. And it is this condition that triggers his outburst ».
A monologue, pure word. Why that title?
“” Shut up everyone! ” because others talk in vain and to listen to what he has to say. But at a certain point the long reflection of him shifts: from others to himself. Talking does not even help him, indeed it produces damage. He too in the number of those who must be silent ».
“Shut up all!”, Teatro Out Off, via Mac Mahon 16, until February 27, 7.30 pm, Sunday 4 pm, € 20, teatrooutoff.it