Histrionic like few Italian actors, Alessio Boni manages to highlight his multiple abilities to step into the shoes of different characters. An example of this is his brilliant career which saw him as the protagonist in different roles. Between theatre, cinema and television, the actor from Bergamo stood out for his personal style and, among his numerous works, for his excellent interpretation of important figures from the art world such as Caravaggio, Puccini, Don Quixote and Ulysses . On Sunday 17 September, with Alessandro Quarta he will be on stage at the Teatro Grandinetti Comunale in Lamezia Terme, with “The man who overshadowed the Sun King. Life of Molière”, organized by AMA Calabria.
Available and open to dialogue, Boni gave us a first reading of a show that is enjoying enormous success with critics and the public.
How did you get the idea of creating a show dedicated to the life of Molière?
«This show was created because it is the 350th anniversary of the death of Jean Baptiste Poquelin, who we all know by the pseudonym of Molière. At the invitation of my playwright Francesco Niccolini, I read a book by Mikhail Bulgakov on the life of the French playwright, which I immediately loved.”
Love at first… reading
«It was like that. Inside there are life, the vicissitudes of Molière. This was the other great motivation that pushed us to stage an effective show that helps us understand the man of the theater tout court».
You quoted Francesco Niccolini. We have had a working relationship with him for ten years.
«With Francesco we have a theater group called “Il Quadrivio” and with him we have created other shows such as “Don Chisciotte”, “I Duellanti” and soon “Iliad”, with which we will debut in December».
With her on stage there will be the violinist Alessandro Quarta.
«We met Alessandro during the Covid period, when we created “Bach, Queneau, exercises and variations” at Arte Sella, in Trentino. That was the “fatal” meeting that allowed us to get to know each other and thanks to which great artistic esteem began. It was inevitable that I thought of him for this show.”
Molière’s life teaches us that we must always fight to make our dreams come true.
“Without a doubt. He was a man who, despite the boos he received for eight years, stubbornly went ahead to realize his dream. This is a message we want to leave with our show. We want to raise awareness among our public, a stimulus that can be useful to everyone. Molière’s stubbornness has given us a genius of world theater.”
In his show he talks about a man who overshadowed the Sun King.
«Molière did not consciously want to obscure Louis XIV. Today history has made him more famous than a king who was very famous at the time.”
What message does the show want to give?
«Even if you are the son of an upholsterer and you have a dream, pursue it. In defiance of everyone, you can achieve it.”
Did you dream of being an actor?
«No, it was a coincidence. I was a tiler and then at 21 I saw a show that enlightened me and I said I wanted to do this. Now I’m here, eager to learn so much more and discover three billion things.”