Everything began with him thirty years ago for us and has continued over time because he has always followed us in our work. And above all because it was he who taught us the true nature of theatre, its substance.” Spiro Scimone’s voice cracks with emotion as he tells us about the meeting he and Francesco Sframeli had with Carlo Cecchi, the great Tuscan actor and director who passed away on Friday. Yes, because Cecchi, already a recognized Maestro at that time, decided (to the great surprise of the entire theater world) to be the director of «Nunzio», accepting the proposal of two unknown actors from Messina who, moreover, wanted to act in their native language, which had never before reached the national stage.
The first, which took place on the stage of Taormina Arte, whose theater section (then very important) was directed by Gabriele Lavia, on 20 August 1994, decreed the success of Scimone and Sframeli, which continued throughout these years with great recognition both in Italy and abroad.
«We had already been doing theater for a long time – says Scimone – but that meeting was a revelation for us, because it allowed us to do everything we did afterwards. Without Cecchi we would not have achieved the results we have achieved. And he was always with us, not only because he never missed our shows, but because he clearly traced a path for us, respecting our personalities, which turned out to be the right one.” And he adds: «We had courage and perhaps recklessness, because we didn’t get to him through auditions or anything similar, we were the ones who looked for him. After my text had won the Idi under 30 award, we contacted Roberto Toni, then director of the Teatro di Firenze, of which Cecchi was artistic director. “We are two strangers with a prize,” we introduced ourselves. He talked about it with Carlo who wanted to read the script. He told us: “I thought: either they are two crazy people or it is a cry for help. Reading the text, I understood that you are not crazy”.
Scimone remembers those days as if it were yesterday: «He had the generosity of a great master, from the first meeting he demonstrated his desire to give knowledge. He opened up the true world of pure theater to us.” Thus, for example, Cecchi, faced with a writing problem, invited the author to resolve it, that is, he gave him the opportunity to express himself in the best possible way and put aside a treasure of knowledge: «He treated me like a contemporary foreign author, who deserved great respect, not like a young novice».
And he went crazy for Sframeli’s acting: «He always said it – adds Scimone –, and Francesco in many things is Carlo in his actorly quintessence». Cecchi wanted to do two months of rehearsals in his home in Tuscany because he said: “We don’t have to make a show, but create a case.” And so it was.
Then he wanted Scimone and Sframeli to move forward alone: ”You must not be tied to my name but to yours.” And he entrusted them for the next «Bar» to Valerio Binasco, who had been his assistant (and is now the artistic director of the Turin building). All this is the logical consequence of a sentence that Cecchi had written in the director’s notes of «Nunzio»: these young actors and their text were «of great interest to me, because it was something that had a real need». A seer.
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