THE LOVER

by Harold Pinter
translation by Alessandra Serra

project, interpretation and direction
Elena Bucci and Marco Sgrosso 

A Teatro Stabile of Brescia production
in collaboration with Le belle bandiere Company
and with the support of the Municipality of Russi 

sound of dramaturgy Elena Bucci and Raffaele Bassetti - light designer Maurizio Viani - stage director Giovanni Macis - lighting technician Gianluca Bergamini - company coordinator Federica Cremaschi - distribution Paolo Gorietti - photo Umberto Favretto

Alongside the tested surveying of re-reading the great classics texts, we turn to a great contemporary author to rediscover the authenticity of words closest to us in our time.
Harold Pinter is a ruthless detector of empty conversations and comforting absurdities, masked by a supposed peaceful normality.

With his sleek and cruel look he alludes to a more viable possibility of existence, overturning modes and formulas of communication.
This new possibility of life arises from the consciousness of pain and from the inability to define it clearly.
Richard and Sarah... but also Max and the Whore...

We are faced with a seemingly happy bourgeois couple. Overturning the myth of Amphitryon and Jupiter, the man - with the same appearance - plays both the role of the husband and the other one of the lover of an accomplished Alcmene.
The groom and the bride mess marriage classic habits, allowing the possibility of confusing coexistence of different identities in each of us.
With lightning speed, a exhilarating sequence of ironic scenes takes place in the claustrophobia of a comfortable cottage, illuminated by the blinding sun.

The game of relationships and identities is defined through clear and ironic signs - the tie, the hollyhock, the cream, the cocktails, the heels and the bongos.
So it gains gradually darker and disturbing tones.
Forced into an area without escape, Richard and Sarah must face the truth everchanging and elusive of their being together.
Where does the necessity of this amusing and cruel game of the slaughter come from?

In search of what freedom? Of what perfect balance?
Otherwise in order to defend themselves from what fear?

Is it a voluntary game or an inevitable one? Is the assumption to bluff allowed?
What happens when the rules break unexpectedly?
This play - full of subtle traps - combines in perfect elegance of style theater film and radio drama, mixing ironic and tragic cuts.
We wonder about the mystery of attraction, of trouble, of love, of complicity.
We also wonder about the danger hidden in the attempt to build a unique and unbreakable bond. In the balance between truth and falsehood, can we create an alliance? A prison? A shelter? A springboard?
In the absence of clear answers, the beauty of the journey remains.