Keep going around Romagna Roberto Mercadini, author, poet, storyteller, beloved theatrical and organizer. Even outside the walls it is increasingly in demand; recently applauded in Milan for his interpretation of “The noise of necessity”, a book by Marco Campomaggi in which the author tells the passion and history that originated the well-known leather goods brand Campomaggi and Caterina Lucchi. The protagonist of Sala di Cesenatico on Monday 27 December at 9 pm is a guest of the Little Tony Auditorium in Serravalle, for his “Dante. More noble is the vulgar ” who accompanied him in this Dante year (12-10 euros. Info: 349 3520327). Tuesday 28 December at 9 pm, in the theater of Villa Torlonia in San Mauro Pascoli, it presents an “almost” novelty: it is “Moby Dick”, from the novel of the same name by Melville.
Roberto, why do you consider “Moby Dick” almost a novelty?
«Because, after having staged monologues in a limited time, I decided to film my best shows, perfect them and present them at a higher level. So here is “Moby Dick”, which appears again in a better guise than that of more than a ago; the monologue was commissioned to me by the Maritime Museum of Cesenatico and by the director Davide Gnola with whom I have been collaborating for years ».
What, of Melville’s nineteenth-century masterpiece, do you want to highlight the most?
«The fact that in“ Moby Dick ”the author tries to show everything that can be done with language. Usually we have in mind the adventure, that is the story, spread in the imagination also by the film with Gregory Peck (“Moby Dick, the white whale” by John Houston, 1956), but that is only the thin skeleton of “Moby “Fuck.” In reality, compared to the history of whaling, the book is full of impressions, digressions, parentheses. And this is where Melville writes the best, because it is as if he changes style with each chapter. “
What fascinates you about this way of writing?
“The fact that there are epic things, even Shakespearean, other comic, philosophical, technical, even nonsense things; it is a pinwheel, a kaleidoscope of inventions that leaves you amazed by the diversity and richness. And this is exactly what I am trying to do in relaunching my “Moby Dick”: bringing to the fore the diversity of the contents of the book which, a bit like “Don Quixote”, embodies very different things. But also the fact that “Moby Dick” is essentially a book with a comic background ».
Comic?
«Yes, starting with the narrator Ismaele, a clumsy, naive character, it is also a funny book. The impression of comedy accompanies me from the first reading that I did not do as a child, because “Moby Dick” is not a children’s book, to which a reduction is always presented. From the beginning it makes people smile with the story of those who have to find a bed in New Bedford, the city from which the whalers’ ships depart. Hilarious is the chapter on the processing of spermaceti, an oily liquid that sperm whales have in their skulls, used in perfumery; another funny chapter is the one about the mail that was sent to the sailors with an absurd method of unloading sacks of letters, waiting to cross another ship where someone would ask: “Hey, is there mail for us?”. So I quote many comic passages, now reading them, now narrating them ».
What about the most epic part?
«Captain Ahab arrives after a page and also pronounces things of great tragic suggestion. Like the monologue in front of the severed head of a sperm whale, hanging from the mast of the ship; it is an amazing monologue, worthy of Shakespeare. I also report the most powerful, evocative, moving passages. It is truly an amazing book, it is as if the author wishes to see everything that can be done with language; I think it is the work that has influenced me the most as a person who writes in prose ».
Coming to her recent success in Repubblica’s “Robinson” literary tournament, where readers elected her 2020 “Atomic Bomb” book, what new opportunities do you think are opening up?
«It is still early to know; I have received many compliments, they told me that my book has had an acceleration in sales so it is difficult to do so and this is a change compared to before. Images that some will know me also thanks to this book ».
How do you see your next season instead?
«I will continue with Dante and will resume and enhance my other monologues such as the one on Shakespeare. A very nice appointment is expected, at the Puccini in Florence and at the historic Hiroshima Mon Amour club in Turin. As a man of the theater, however, it seems terrifying to me to impose a swab before the shows on those who have been vaccinated, it would have a dramatic outcome also for the theater, few people would be willing to pay, in addition to the ticket, even the swab ».
15-12 euros. Info: 370 3685093