Liolà | |
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Written by | Luigi Pirandello |
Date premiered | November 4, 1916 |
Place premiered | Teatro Argentina, Rome |
Original language | Sicilian |
Genre | comedy |
Liolà (Italian pronunciation: [ljoˈla]) is an Italian stage play written by Luigi Pirandello, which takes place in 19th century Sicily. The title character is a middle-aged single father by choice. He has three young boys, each by a different mother. Liolà is a free-spirit who wanders from town to town, looking to connect with nature, and to create children without having any ties to the mother. He tries to sell one of his boys to Zio Simone, a crabby elderly man, who becomes offended by the offer. He then has an encounter with Mita, a former lover, who tells him that he is the father of her unborn child. Pirandello immortalizes Liolà as an ideal father, and in certain scenes in the play, Liolà shows a lot of love and affection to his children.
Fabio Perselli and Victoria Glyn translated Liola in 1982 for the first English language, multi-racial performance by Internationalist Theatre (originally called New Internationalist Theatre) at London`s Bloomsbury Theatre. Perselli also directed the play. . Press reception in the English and Italian languages :The `pleasures of the performance`of the first UK English language production of Pirandello`s Liola translated by the director himself, Fabio Perselli, according to Harold Atkins of The Daily Telegraph` lay in the vitality, the lusty folk element.. A very good evening of an unusual kind`. .Corriere della Sera observed : `Il successo e stato particolarmente vivo e le recensioni della stampa molto positivo`.
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