The Green Bird

The Green Bird
The cover of Goldenthal's score for the 2000 Broadway production
Written by	Carlo Gozzi
Characters	Tartaglia Ninetta Barbarina Renzo Tartagliona Brighella The Green Bird many others
Date premiered	18th Century
Original language	Italian
Subject	A fantastic, but dysfunctional, royal family
Genre	Commedia dell'arte, Fantasy, Dark Comedy
Setting	Monterotondo

The Green Bird is a 1765 commedia dell'arte play by Carlo Gozzi. It is a sequel to The Love of Three Oranges.

The play is set in the imaginary city of Monterotondo.

Pantalone remembers how 18 years ago, King Tartaglia left for the wars, leaving his wicked mother, Tartagliona, in control of the government. Tartagliona buried alive her daughter-in-law, Queen Ninetta, and ordered Pantalone to kill her twin children, Barbarina and Renzo. Pantalone instead wrapped them tightly in oilcloth and threw them in the river, tricking Tartagliona by showing her the hearts of two young goats. Pantalone still doubts that the twins could have survived. Yet Pantalone now hears Brighella the soothsayer utter a prophecy predicts that the King, the Queen, and the twins will return, along with other fantastical events. Pantalone is sceptical.

Truffaldino is a grumpy butcher. He talks with his wife Smelderina about how, 18 years ago, they rescued twins named Barbarina and Renzo and raised them as their own. He then informs the twins, to their horror, that they are bastards and that they must leave as he can no longer afford to feed them. Renzo has been reading philosophy books and informs the doubtful Barberina that humans are motivated purely by selfishness; they must avoid all pleasure and be sceptical of all friendship that they encounter. Barberina wonders if this includes the friendly green bird that often flutters around her.

In the drains below the palace, Queen Ninetta has been trapped for 18 years. Her only friend is the green bird, who brings her food. To her astonishment, the green bird suddenly speaks. He explains that he is a king transformed by an ogre, that Tartagliona fooled King Tartaglia into agreeing to Ninetta's imprisonment, that her children are alive, and that if they discover their true parentage, Tartagliona will be overthrown and the green bird will return to human form and, he hopes, marry Barberina.

On a beach, the freezing, hungry Barberina is increasingly sceptical of Renzo's self-denying philosophy. Suddenly Calmon, King of the Statues, appears and tells Renzo that his philosophy is too extreme. He tells them they must find their true parents, that the green bird is key to the mystery, that if they need help they should call on him, and that if they throw a pebble at the palace they will become rich.

King Tartaglia returns from the wars, depressed because he misses Ninetta. Truffaldino, his former cook, is friendly to him, but admits that he's only doing so because he needs money, at which the King rejects him, feeling entirely unloved. Tartagliona tries to cheer him up, but he sends her away. She then encounters Brighella, who flatters her, although his prophecies are ominous.