The Great Magic

THE GREAT MAGIC (LA GRANDE MAGIA)

Adapted from the original play by Eduardo De Filippo and directed by Rosario Sparno

With Luca Iervolino, Antonella Romano, Rosario Sparno

Costumes Alessandra Gaudioso, Magic Tricks coach Massimiliano Foà

Production: Casa del Contemporaneo

Running time: 66 min

“Everything that happens before your eyes is just an illusion”

A jealous husband and his beautiful young wife are on holiday in the Italian Riviera. A magician

arrives at their luxury hotel and the wife steps into an Egyptian sarcophagus for the famous

"lady vanishes" routine. Only she really does vanish - into a nearby speedboat and the arms of

her lover. Out of this conceit de Filippo spins a wonderful play about theatrical illusion and obsessional delusion.

English translations and English supertitles have been provided students of Civica

Scuola Interpreti e Traduttori Altiero Spinelli - Milano as part of a tutored educational

program led by In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY.

Rosario Sparno is a director and actor who lives and works in Naples.

He has adapted and directed classic works by Shakespeare, Moliére,

Lorca, De Filippo for Teatro Mercadante and Le Nuvole company.

Rosario works with Casa del Contemporaneo productions. He

performed in the feature “Il resto di niente” with Maria de Medeiros.

With his company Bottega Bombardini, he stages the works of

contemporary playwrights such as: D.F. Wallace, G. Clua, J.

Rushbrooke and P. Bezerra. He is also the author of children’s books

and CDs.

Antonella Romano lives and works in Naples. In 1993 she

approached the theater as an actress experimenting with different

languages, from street theater to classical theater, up to

contemporary. Among the most significant experiences are

Symbiosis with the Catalan company Fura del Baus, Filumena

Marturano with Isa Danieli directed by Cristina Pezzoli. In 2005

she was the winner of the Girulà Award for best young actress for

the show The heiress directed by Arturo Cirillo. The collaboration

with Rosario Sparno started in 2009 creating various installations

for works such as "The Tempest" by Shakespeare, Ria Rosa, The

Fish woman and working alongside him as assistant director in

"Napoli mon amour" and "Dream" by W. Shakespeare. During her

twenty-year career as an actress, Antonella has acquired

awareness and strength of bodily expression on stage and questioned herself more and more

intensely on the need to transcend the body, shape the subject and use the experience gained

to modulate the expression of the places he inhabits and in to which he pours his emotions in

the form of Sculptures. With a slow and laborious modulation of the gesture reiterated, almost

mantric weaves together kilometers of wire forging his creatures with his bare hands, taking

ownership of one's time and processes cognitions that accompany its flow in an attempt to

mend the fractures of the soul.

LUCA IERVOLINO holds a degree in Philosophy of Language with

110 cum laude and Academic Mention at the Federico II University of

Naples. He studied acting at the Paolo Grassi Civic School of

Dramatic Arts in Milan. He continues his training with artists such as

T. Ostermeier, A. Mnouchkine, J.C. Penchenat, V. Binasco, J.

Houbens. In 2010 he participated in the “Ecole des maitres” program

directed that year by M. Lenton. he has worked with P. Stein in “I

Demoni” (Ubu award for best show) and “Riccardo II” in 2017, with M.

Plini at the Stabile di Brescia, with Lia Chiappara and Luca Mazzone

at the Teatro Libero in Palermo, with Paola Zecca and Elisabetta

Pogliani for the Fionda Teatro of Milan, with Luca De Fusco at the

Teatro Stabile Mercadante of Naples. Since 2009 he has collaborated

with the Stabile di Napoli Mercadante and with the Stabile Le Nuvole

and Casa del Contemporaneo, playing leading roles in shows directed by Rosario Sparno and

F. Cocifoglia.

IN SCENA! ITALIAN THEATER FESTIVAL NY

Started in 2013, the year of Italian Culture in the States, by Kairos Italy Theater, KIT Italia and

Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo’ at NYU in collaboration with the Italian Embassy in the US, In

Scena! presents – each year – a survey of the best Italian theater from Italy, in New York City.

The festival features full productions that have already toured in Italy as well as readings of

Italian plays in translation, lectures, and exchanges between Italian and International artists.

The goal is to promote greater awareness of Italian theater and Italian artists among New York

City theatergoers, and to build a bridge between the artistic scenes in Italy and the US. As of

today In Scena! Has brought Italian Theater to New York, Washington DC, Boston, Detroit, Los

Angeles, San Diego, Santa Rosa, Calgary and Lethbridge (Alberta, Canada). Now, in its 11th

edition, the Festival arrives in Toronto while still traveling in the 5 NYC boroughs.

Host or Publisher Culture Lab LIC is an arts and community resource center.