A private story becomes a tool for a broader reflection on an individual’s desire for self-realization. The performance bears a trace of old Italian-style variety show with comic stunts, songs, dances and a truckload of irony. Starting on Wednesday, March 2, the Milan-born Ippolita Baldini will perform her successful “Mia mamma è una marchesa” (“My Mother is a Marquise”) at the Italian Institute of Culture in Paris. The performance consists of a monologue in what is essentially a one-woman show that is nonetheless based on a collaborative effort: script by Emanuele Aldrovandi, directed by Roberto Rustioni, costumes by Elisabetta Falck, stage lighting by Camilla Brison. At the centre of the stage is Roberta: she is tied to family habits that she would like to break away from; she loves her work but it does not fulfil her; she would like to escape but, once she’s away from home, she doesn’t feel comfortable; she falls in love but is not truly enamoured; she is torn between what she is and what she would like to be although she is not sure about either.
“Mia mamma è una marchesa”
The monologue – in which Baldini’s narrating voice is always accompanied by the comments of her mother, who acts as her stooge – tells part of the woman’s story: she escapes to New York in the pursuit of a love affair which is perhaps not true love and her great desire to find out her real place in the world. The performance is subdivided into nine chapters representing nine adventures lived by the woman: each chapter has its own costumes and images so as to immerse the spectator in the atmosphere that is being narrated by the actress, changing the atmosphere according to the story. The performance was shown in a preview at Rome’s Teatro Ambra Garbatella after Ms Baldini was awarded the theatre’s prize for best actress.
