It was 2006 when a show was born that was destined to enter the history of Italian theater and which today, having reached its first twenty years, knows the honor of being staged in Paris by the Comédie Française from 4 to 22 February. «Disgraced. An honor killing in Calabria», the monologue by Saverio La Ruina (Calabrian from Castrovillari), in Italy interpreted by its author, in France it will be entrusted to Anna Cervinka, directed by Françoise Gillard and translated by Federica Martucci and Amandine Mélan. La Ruina himself will stage the original version on February 9th, as a guest of the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris.
Twenty years ago La Ruina and his company Scena Verticale (founded in 1992 with Dario De Luca), the same one that organizes “Primavera dei Teatri”, were still little-known, yet the impact of that “anomalous” show was disruptive. I was lucky enough to see him in 2006 (in the Verdi theater in Milan). «A piece of great theater – I wrote then –. It must be said immediately and in no uncertain terms: the monologue written, directed and performed by Saverio La Ruina strikes and makes its way into the minds and, I am convinced, into the bodies of the spectators. It could be shouted, forced, over the top, as happens with many shows that claim to capture the anthropological aspects of our South and it would certainly be a blow to the stomach. But, once the moment of impact characterized by excess is over, little or nothing would remain in the soul of those who saw it. Instead, La Ruina chooses the path of a discreet story, precisely of someone who has lived a life of holding back her emotions, of being “only” a woman, subservient to the all-male family government, unworthy or in any case not authorized to have opinions and initiatives and whose existence is linked to a possible marriage”. And I continued: «Saverio La Ruina, with a barely visible homely feminine outfit, tells in first person the story of a Calabrian woman who many (but not very many) years ago, in a period in which the “law” of honor killings was in force, had the misfortune of becoming pregnant, first ignored by her family and then burned alive, but survived and destined for absolute marginality… She does it with discretion, at the center of the scene, but with the tones of someone who is used to being on the sidelines, very sideways. Yet, La Ruina with a slight difference in tones and with a very effective speaking gesture, never faded, contained and evident at the same time, using the Calabrian dialect of the Pollino areas, bent to an admirable musicality, tells everything: what is said and what is not said (for example, a great interior poetry), making every detail comprehensible even to a northern audience. And this is how the inhuman life of the Dishonored takes those who listen and remains within them, an effective and unavoidable worm of the many violence against women today and yesterday.”
All this is said to clarify clearly how and why this show has maintained in all these years – La Ruina has meanwhile written and performed many other successful shows, has won important awards, including five Ubu, and on the 28th will present the new work, «KR70M16 Naufrago senza nome», in the national premiere at the Teatro India in Rome – a path of success, after having been consecrated with the most important awards of our scene. To the point of making the choice of the Comédie Française logical and consequent, not to be considered a goal, but rather a prestigious stage. «In Paris – says La Ruina – they have a reading committee that examines 400 texts a year before choosing what to put on the bill. When I sent “Disonoreta” I wasn’t hoping for anything, but instead I had the honor reserved until now for very few Italians (including Spiro Scimone from Messina with “La festa”, ed.). The text had already been published in France and there had been a stage reading. First I rewrote it in Italian, then the two translators (one bilingual) did their job, maintaining a simple language, rich in musicality.” And they were the intermediary, especially Federica Martucci, with whom the actress, director and author spoke in view of the staging in Paris.
La Ruina is curious to see his “disgraced” played by a woman, but says that he wrote this text thinking from the beginning that he would go on stage: «Apart from an apron, I remained a man on stage, with my trousers. No disguises, no falsettos. It was as if, as a man, I was denouncing myself: the accused is in the chair.” But he, as a boy, had instead experienced women in a positive way: «I started from a reflection on the condition of women in Calabria. Although, thinking about what I had seen in my life, they were important, unlike what appeared in society. Not submissive women who mourned themselves, but with a fundamental role in the family, more than that of men who outside the home seemed to be the “masters”, according to the patterns of patriarchal society. Women poured onto their children the affection that was not fully expressed between husbands and wives. The truth was that many things were decided by women.” And this is probably why “Disonoreta”, despite her role as a victim of honor killing (“abolished by the code only in 1981, a few years before when I wrote”), is a character who has a capacity for irony and understanding of reality: a victim capable of turning arguments against her torturers.
He uses a strict dialect, yet – thanks to La Ruina’s acting – perfectly understandable: «I didn’t use the regional dialect rendered in a conventional way, as is often done in the theatre. I trusted the truth of the words and the public’s response surprised me. Even when he didn’t understand the words, the meaning still came through. The language is not constructed, it was mine, I spoke like those women. And it was the character that dictated my movements. Some I didn’t even realize at first, others pointed them out to me. That character gave me a theatrical lesson: I didn’t have to think about how to move, everything happened spontaneously.”