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Carlo Ardito is a playwright, adaptor and translator whose work has been performed on stage and BBC Radio in Britain and throughout the English-speaking world. A recent study on his dramatisation of Italo Svevo’s novel Confessions of Zeno was published in the volume of essays Writers and Performers in Italian Drama from the time of Dante to Pirandello (Edwin Mellen Press, 1992) His volume of translations: Eduardo de Filippo – Three Plays (Hamish Hamilton 1976) was shortlisted for the Florio Prize. His translations of Grand Magic, Filumena Marturano, and The Local Authority are available in Four Plays by Eduardo de Filippo in the Methuen World Dramatists series. His version of Grand Magic, directed by Richard Eyre, was staged in July 1995 by the Royal National Theatre. He was recently commissioned and is currently working on new versions of six plays by Pirandello for the Calder Collected Edition of Plays by that author. He lives and works in London. Stage and Radio Plays THE DAY OF THE SCREECH OWL (BBC Radio 4 Saturday Night Theatre, 1984) c DA PONTE’S LAST STAND QUADRILLE TAKEOVERS CONFESSIONS OF ZENO * (*) BBC Radio 3 1978 Based on the novel by Italo Svevo c THE PURPLE PILEUS (from the HG Wells short story) BRIEF CANDLE (Lyric Hammersmith, 1990) TWO MONOLOGUES WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS A BED FOR THE KNIGHT Stage Translations and Adaptations SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY (Eduardo de Filippo) THE LOCAL AUTHORITY (Eduardo de Filippo) GRAND MAGIC (Eduardo de Filippo) (New York 1978, Glasgow Mayfest 1988, Edinburgh Festival 1988, Lyric Hammersmith 1989, Perth 1993, National Theatre 1995) FILUMENA MARTURANO (Eduardo de Filippo) (Unity Theatre Liverpool 19977, Octagon Theatre Bolton 1982) SIK-SIK and LIVING DANGEROUSLY (Eduardo de Filippo) REGENERATION (Italo Svevo) (Aldwych Theatre 1976) ODDS AND SODS (G Patroni-Griffi) (Royal court Theatre 1976) c THE LOVERS (Brunello Rondi) c MIRANDOLINA (Carlo Goldoni) (Commissioned by Pitlochry Festival) A FAREWELL TO VENICE (Carlo Goldoni) ARIDOSIO (Lorenzino de Medici) REVELATIONS (Giuseppe Giacosa) (Haymarket Theatre Leicester 1979) THE IRONCLADS (Aldo Nicolaj) (Italian Institute 1993) CAVIARE AND CHIPS (Scarnicci and Tarabusi) (Shaftesbury Theatre 1987) THE MISER (Carlo Goldoni) (Italian Institute 1993) THE DAY OF THE SCREECH OWL (Italian Institute 1993) CONFESSIONS OF ZENO (Italian Institute 1995) Radio Adaptations GRAND MAGIC *(*) (*)(Eduardo de Filippo) (BBC Radio 3 and 4 and repeats)x SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY * (Eduardo de Filippo) (BBC WS 1977) c THE LOCAL AUTHORITY (Eduardo de Filippo) (BBC World Service and transcription 1979 c ARIDIOSO (Lorenzino de Medici) (BBC Radio 3 1977 and repeats) c REVELATIONS * (*) (Giuseppe Giacosa) BBC radio 3 1980 and World Service repeat 1980 THE IRONCLADS * (*) (Aldo Nicolaj) (BBC Radio 3 1982 and repeat) FILUMENA MARTURANO (Eduardo de Filippo) (BBC Radio 4 1988 and repeat) THE MISER (Carlo Goldoni) (BBC Radio 4 1993) THE WANDERING PATH Walter Napley, the son of an English mother and an Italian father, seems predestined to cultivate and practice the arts professionally. But rejecting them as being dangerous and basically trivial, he decides instead to pursue commercial and industrial interests. Walter’s initial estrangement from his parents includes a tragicomic sudden death during a rehearsal at La Scala. Followed by isolation from his musically gifted mother, Walter comes to view the arts as both trivial and dangerous, and opts for a life as a business entrepreneur. His eventual achievements are on a scale the extent of which he could hardly have anticipated. Ironically, however, his progress is marred and almost destroyed by the unexpected intervention of what can only be described as the sins of the fathers visited upon the children. His life is buffeted by the dramatic geopolitical events of World War 2 and its aftermath, as well as by his father’s early accidental death and the complex and eccentric behaviour of a mother whose instincts turn out to be anything but maternal. |
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