duemilaNOve

(‘twothousandNEIN!’)

The stimulus for this autodramma — perhaps the most ‘political’ one ever produced here — is the financial/economic crisis which we are all experiencing in 2009.  Through satirical mockery, the play accuses the present government on the one hand of pretending that there is no crisis, and on the other hand of inventing fictional panacea solutions, delivered especially through a manipulated TV service.
There are also brief allusions to possible crises within the Teatro Povero itself (can story-telling on stage really be a sufficient response to current problems?); and fragmentary evocations, mixed in with other dramatic planes, of a different rural life which it is still just possible to remember.
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Governing the whole play is the fictional notion that the government has issued a decree obliging every family to buy a new form of kitchen cooker or stove — una stufa economica — powered by nuclear pellets.  This instrument, it is alleged, will save energy, save the economy, and even save the world.  At various points of the action, there are attempts to control the people of the village by a series of threatening whistles and sirens from off stage.
To start with, a family of four is looking at the official brochure sent to every household to tell them that they must buy the stufa.  They argue about which colour to choose; but they also make it clear that in present circumstances they cannot really afford it.  While they list their income and expenditure, grandfather Alpo is shaved by his daughter: he is very infirm, and one of their new expenses will be to find an attendant (una badante) to look after him.  (‘Badanti’, in Italy, are often immigrants from Eastern Europe.)  Two visiting friends continue the discussion about the crisis.  Paolo is being pursued by the bank for his debts, basically because his customers do not pay their bills, and he is afraid for himself and the workers who depend on him.  Luca is more obstinately optimistic, but he does not convince the others.
All this relatively realistic discussion is interrupted by the arrival of five (much less realistic) Local Information Officers, energetically intent on reassuring the people and communicating the government’s current message.  They bombard us all with words which are often self-contradictory (‘The crisis is not serious, but is getting worse, even if it’s not!’); they contradict each other with diametrically opposite ‘facts’ about the economy (for example, stock market quotations); at times they trip over their own words, and sound like defective machines rather than human beings.  Attracted by two pretty girls, they move inside a TV screen at the back of the stage, put on puppet-like masks, continue to talk nonsense, and depart after a sexy tango.
As soon as they are gone, a group of villagers rushes on to the stage: they think they have been summoned to some kind of meeting.  And so a complex discussion follows.  Throughout these scenes there are interventions from a balladeer (Rita), who recites commentaries on the situation.  Moreover, among those who are discussing the current crisis there are others who follow a separate train of thought, with memories of a different world altogether: the script refers to them as ‘Fragments’ of the past.  Their thoughts are sometimes alternated and confused with reactions to the present day.  Eventually Grandfather Alpo joins the group, accompanied by his new foreign badante.
Is it really compulsory to buy a stufa economica?  Apparently someone who refused has been beaten up.  What colour are people going to choose?  It appears that the ‘primary colours’ available do not include red (presumably seen as politically provocative).  Denise, the most rebellious person present, intends to paint her stove red anyway; but the small print of the regulations says that changing the colour is forbidden.  (Lucio’s memory of a different blue stove, owned by two old people he visited, introduces the more reflective train of thought pursued by the ‘Fragments’.)  Questions about whether there is a crisis at all are answered by hard facts: people out of work, goods which can’t be sold, mortgages which can’t be paid… and what about all those who are speculating and profiteering?  Andrea, the son of our first family, tries repeatedly to ask about the crisis of the Teatro Povero, but no one pays attention, too absorbed by the question of choosing colours.  Anxiety is also expressed about the environmental effect of the nuclear fuel in the stoves.  Just as they are about to mount a colective protest, they are thrown into confusion by whistles and sirens, and then discover that they are somehow blocked, so it is impossible to leave the stage.  There is panic.  An impersonal governmental voice on the sound track tries to calm them down: ‘You’re all right.  You’re important.  Pretend you’re on holiday’.
Quieter conversation turns to memories of the rustic world of the past.  Should we be nostalgic for those hard times, or not?  Lucio remembers how everything was familiar and manageable.  Paolo, on the contrary, remembers his father talking about a ‘knot in the stomach’ which won’t go away, and must be passed down the generations.  Rosanna talks about the instinct for danger possessed by animals: perhaps we need it ourselves today.  But Rita’s ballad is about those from past generations of villagers who have passed on.  The ‘Fragment’ characters take over the conversation: they remember some older-style ‘economic’ kitchen stoves; but mostly they are following the funeral of Ultimina who has just died, and remembering those Monticchiellesi who emigrated to find work and never came back — to Belgium, France, Venezuela….  Alpo’s badante Natalie, a migrant in the opposite direction, tells us in her own language (Ukrainan) about the ‘crisis’ in her country which drove her to find a new life in Italy.
Rita’s final ballad has a message: if the Monticchiellesi have been corrupted by the modern system, they should leave too; if not, then there is another story for them to tell.  And she appears inside the TV screen to narrate an illustrated Fable to the assembled people of Monticchiello.

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The Fable
Once upon a time there was a very strange country — or village? — governed by a very powerful King, who was of course good and kind but always did what he liked and would not allow anyone to contradict him.  Which no one ever did […] because in the end one gets used to anything.  This King lived in a big palace which had no limits and where the Sun never set.  A wonderful palace, full of gold and silver […] and men and women who had to applaud at length whenever the King passed by  […]
The country was full of strange animals which, while the people struggled to make a living, had the nasty habit of gobbling them up.  […]  Still, generally everything was fine and happy, so that even the trees were ordered to smile.  And they did!
One terrible day, however, the clear blue sky was suddenly split open, and let in a blast of freezing air.  This upset the people very much; but the Court Chamberlains immediately sent some tailors to sew up the hole.  [...]  Because the sewn patch was still visible some scene-painters were sent to repaint the sky properly, so that in the end you could see nothing. (All this is mimicked inside the TV screen.)  Everyone was relieved, and said that what had happened was not true.
Sadly, however, another part of the sky became torn, and then another, and once again showers of freezing water soaked everyone, and stopped them working. ( The only trade not affected by this was that of the illusionists, but this didn’t help much.)
In fact the sky began to split apart all over, and exposed to view the things which were behind it, a sight which everyone found horrible.  The King was furious, and ordered that the sky should be immediately replaced with another. (Frantic attempts to replace the sky.)   A new Happiness Law was passed, saying that in order to forget the nasty things in the world the people had to sing a new Hymn to Joy, very loudly.
The people obeyed, and began to sing their hearts out. (The people on stage mime the act of singing.)  But repeated bursts of freezing air, coming down from a sky which was no longer a sky, lashed at them so hard that no one could move any longer.  Although they kept on trying to sing, what came out of their mouths was just frozen vapour.  Or rather frozen letters, which slid to the ground and shattered in pieces.  So the King issued a decree:  “By supreme order of His Majesty the King: every family in the kingdom has a duty to buy an Energy-Saving Happiness Kitchen, which will heat up the air and so solve all problems.”   (This is read out by two Information Officers wearing comic masks.)
But having no more money to spend, the people were in despair, and they swarmed off into the countryside in order to hide.  And eventually they came to the place called  the Wood of Roots […]
And there a very strange thing happened ….  (and the story is interrupted here)
The ‘Fragments’ of the past, along with the badante Natalie, appear behind a veil in the TV screen, reminding us of what they had to say: the people of Monticchiello try to make contact with them.
Two masked officers march in and close down the TV.  But three women speak through the barrier with exciting news: the stufe economiche cook without any heat!  Also they refuse to function whenever they are approached by an evil person… a speculator… a mafioso… a corrupt politician….!
Presumably the government panics; because a different masked officer announces that the Supreme Emperor has recalled all the stufe, because they are defective: they have been sabotaged by subversive godless people, and could cause rebellion or civil war.
Yet another masked Information Officer (clearly not informed of the latest developments) arrives to say that it is now time to choose your colour and make your purchase.  But the people tear up their official brochures about the stufa economica, and deliver the resounding ‘NO!’ which belongs to ‘duemilaNOve — two thousand and nine’.

Richard Andrews

italian version