Get Lost in a Dream

Franco Scaldati from an (im)possible entomological perspective in Pupa Regina. Opere di fango et ultra

Abstract

Playwright still neglected, Franco Scaldati represents a unicum in the Italian scene by virtue of an immense corpus of work in which the Palermitan language resonates with incredible poetic force. This paper aims to shed light on the Sicilian artist through an unprecedented perspective that draws on the study of animals and animality – zoöesis, as Una Chaudhuri defines it – in his plays. In particular, the role of insects will be explored. What do these animals represent? What is the relationship between humans and animals? What is the borderline between the two worlds? To what extent can insects be considered the dramaturgical engine of Scaldati’s work? The starting point and, at the same time, of irradiation on Scaldati’s production is the analysis of Pupa Regina. Opere di fango and the emergence of bees and fireflies, insects, the latter, which return also in the writing of the “missing ending” of The Mountain Giants by Luigi Pirandello in the 2007 staging directed by Federico Tiezzi.