Acting school, final essay: Chekhov, impossible loves

Abstract

Roberto Alonge reviews the final essay of an amateur theater acting school in Livorno, “Vertigo”, pre- sented in June 2022, visible on You tube (https://youtu.be/2WomPK03V4c). The essay presents a num- ber of scenes from Chekhov’s masterpieces but the overall title of the operation (Chekhov, impossible loves), immediately makes evident the search for a new approach to the image that critical literature has given us: no longer characters who are always losers, devoid of energy, bloodless, but a rich gallery of enchanting female figures (ill-married dissatisfied by the quivering carnality, passionate and hysterical forty-year-olds) in front of which are insecure males, always very ridiculous, inadequate and unable to grasp the suffering of women, as an inevitable fact in a society built by males for males. Alonge dwells in particular on the fragment of Uncle Vanja, where the young actors Giulia Socci and Leonardo Demi seem very interesting to him in the roles of Elena Andreevna and Doctor Astrov, even newer and more vital than in many performances of professional Italian theatre.