Carlo Goldoni

The café

comedy

Translated by:: Imre Barna

The Venetian Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793) was the creator of Italian comedy—one of the most played stage authors, even after his death. After the great Greek and Latin comedians of antiquity, and Molière in the first century, he discovered new sources of humour for the stage, which have since been an element of modern and even more recent comedies.

The director Anca Bradu writes of the production: "Goldoni's café is a mirror of a world locked in self-obsession, dominated by the power of money, petty interests, dishonest deals and ridiculous amorous intrigues, passions that rise and fall at the drop of a hat. Yet, behind the appearances, there is a sense of suffering, loneliness, sadness, and, above all, the inevitable collapse of a world - 18th-century Venice. The play of appearances and substance, of light and shadow, and our suspicion that ultimately nothing said can be proven or believed, gives the play a kind of mysterious, ominous atmosphere. The comedy of the events easily turns absurd, with feelings of sadness and bitterness lurking in the background, like the Venetian masks behind which it is not known what kind of face is hidden. The café is a harsh mirror of reality, both then and now. Goldoni's play is a stunningly modern piece: a grotesque comedy that portrays a world in collapse with bitter poetry."

 

Synopsis translated by: Vivien-Tamara Sárközi

Cast of characters:

Premier: 2009.10.24