The ghosts of Naples in Paris

The ghosts of Naples occupy Paris. The ghosts of Naples creep into the courts of the Louvre never opened before. They stroll through the museum, converse with the works, study the very Italian Gioconda that they would like to bring back, change rooms and find the wonders of Capodimonte. Satiated with so much beauty, the ghosts of Naples stage themselves.
Paris at the service of Naples for a project never realized before. The official inauguration of the exhibition “Naples in Paris. The Louvre invites the Capodimonte Museum” blessed by President Mattarella, opened the fireworks of the Louvre which went beyond the exquisitely museum data by asking the director of the Théâtre de la Ville, Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota, to study a theatrical performance capable of bringing two souls that are basically not so dissimilar together. The choice that fell on the Franco-Portuguese director comes naturally after the great Parisian success obtained this winter with “La grande Magica” based on the work of Eduardo De Filippo, returned in French. And now here is “The ghosts of Naples” work conceived and directed by Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota, unpublished dramaturgy by Marco Giorgetti, general director of the Teatro della Toscana.

We continue in the wake of what the French theater twinned with the Tuscan National Theater has been doing profitably for some time: seeking, finding and representing poetic and political assonances among the greatest European authors. “We started from De Filippo, who the French still know little about and who is not recognized in Italy in all his greatness – says Marco Giorgetti who signs the dramaturgy -. We were inspired by the idea of ​​the passage from the ghosts of Naples to the imaginary real, what is eternal in the work of art and immortal in everyday life. A city that after sunset lives on presences, on personalities who converse in the common language of poetry”.

The spectator is first introduced on a sensorial wandering among the marvels of the exhibition, accompanied by the actors who wander around like guides or ghosts, then he passes into the Grande Galerie for a taste of another marvel. Then the twist reveals the Cour Lefuel never before open to the public. There, at the foot of the double ramp staircase, the stage was specially set up. “Eduardo’s spirit – explains Demarcy-Mota – ferries us like an echo towards other texts, towards Pirandello, Pessoa, Beckett, Ionesco and Shakespeare, I find comfort in the European value that I look for in all my works. These authors, thanks to the interpreters , open up a window of imagination and suggestion. The Cour Lefuel returned to the viewer’s gaze, has a white stone that reflects the light and changes the geometry of the spaces, always creating new ones. That geometry inspired and guided me”.
A pharaonic project that starts on June 28 at the Louvre and continues until July 3, every evening something different is ensured by the many Italian and French performers involved. Among the Italians who will interpret songs from the Neapolitan repertoire of the 20th century, Lina Sastri and Mariangela D’Abbraccio could not be missing. Sastri says, “excited to participate in this great work. I bring with me the guitarist Filippo D’Allio and other musicians. I will sing the songs dear to Eduardo and I will bring some of his splendid monologues. Then everything will be intertwined by the dramaturgy and by the comparison with the actors involved”. Another true Neapolitan is Mariangela D’Abbraccio: “A mix between Naples and Paris that fascinates me. I will start with the prayer to the Madonna from “Filumena Maturano” which I have taken around the world, a show wanted by Luca De Filippo for the direction by Liliana Cavani. Above all, I will enter into the very close relationship that existed between De Filippo and Pino Daniele. For Pino, Eduardo was very important, an inspiring beacon. I will sing “Malafemmena”, “O mare”, a poem by Eduardo that I intertwine with the song by Pino Daniele “Chi tene o mare”. They expect the president Emmanuel Macron who sits on the board of the Théâtre de la Ville and his wife Brigitte. If only for an emotional tribute, given that by reciting Eduardo, “The art of comedy”, the two met to never leave each other again.