Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ances were often used to satirise local situations, and based on a tried-and-tested recipe of
adultery, jealousy, old age and love.
Not only did commedia dell'arte give birth
to a number of legendary characters, including
the Harlequin and Punchinello, it provided fer-
tile ground for the development of popular
theatre in Naples and was a tradition in which
the great dramatist Raffaele Viviani
(1888-1950) was firmly rooted. Viviani's fo-
cus on local dialect and the Neapolitan work-
ing class won him local success and the enmity
of the Mussolini regime.
Despite Viviani's success, the most import-
ant figure in modern Neapolitan theatre re-
mains Eduardo de Filippo (1900-84). The son of a famous Neapolitan actor, Eduardo
Scarpetta (1853-1925), de Filippo made his stage debut at the age of four and over the
next 80 years became a hugely successful actor, impresario and playwright. His body of
often bittersweet work, which includes the classics
Il sindaco del Rione Sanità
(The May-
or of the Sanità Quarter) and
Sabato, Domenica e Lunedì
(Saturday, Sunday and
Monday), encapsulated struggles well known to Neapolitans, from the injustice of being
forced to live beyond the law to the fight for dignity in the face of adversity.
The
furbizia
(cunning) for which Neapolitans are famous is celebrated in de Filippo's
play
Filumena Marturano
, in which a clever ex-prostitute gets her common-law husband
to marry her by declaring him to be the father of one of her three
bambini
. The film ad-
aptation,
Matrimonio all'italiana
(Marriage, Italian Style; 1964), stars Naples'
homegrown siren Sophia Loren (1934-) alongside the great Marcello Mastroianni
(1924-96).
Roberto de Simone (1933-) is another great Neapolitan playwright, not to mention a
renowned composer and musicologist. While lesser known than de Filippo abroad, his
theatrical masterpiece
La Gatta Cenerentola
(The Cat Cinderella) enjoyed a successful
run in London in 1999. Artistic director of the Teatro San Carlo in the 1980s and later dir-
ector of the Naples Conservatory, his extensive research into the city's folkloric tales and
tunes has seen him revive rare comic operas and create a cantata for 17th-century Cam-
panian revolutionary, Masaniello, as well as the oratorio
Eleonora
, in honour of the
heroine of the Neapolitan revolution of 1799.
Emerging in the 1990s, Naples' rap scene
grew out of deep bitterness towards corrup-
tion, the Camorra and social injustices. The
most prolific acts to date include hip-hop/reg-
gae hybrids 99 Posse and Almamegretta, hard-
core hip-hoppers Co'Sang (With Blood), and
rock-crossover group A67. Anti-mafia writer
Roberto Saviano collaborated on A67's 2008
album
Suburb
.
