Set Me Free by Salvatore Striano & Brigid Maher

Author:Salvatore Striano & Brigid Maher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
Published: 2017-08-22T04:00:00+00:00

8

‘Things base and vile, holding no quantity, Love can transpose to form and dignity’

Elena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream,

Act I, Scene I

‘The thing about you is, you’ve got no shame. You’re shameless. You’re brazen.’

I can’t blame Bennett. After visiting the library so often for weeks, I managed to drag him into the theatre group. He gave me a great gift, and continues to do so every day: he’s helping me discover the magic of books, lending me the ones he thinks I might like and keeping me away from others. In exchange, I decided to give him a taste of magic, too. The magic of the stage. But Cosimo has given him the role of Stephano, and he’s puzzled.

‘Read through all the lines and then we can talk about it,’ I suggest, and then I go and rehearse my scene with Prospero, where I first ask him for my freedom. I wonder how long it will be till I stop feeling a lump in my throat every time I say that word. A word that doesn’t belong to me.

What Bennett says is true: I’ve got no shame when I perform. Why not? It’s something I realised when I got up on stage in front of an audience, when the lights went up and I saw their eyes. When I heard their applause. For the first time in my life I was being recognised for something good. For something I could be proud of, instead of something negative, something wrong, something criminal. It was like a revolution. I finally understood how much shame I’d felt before, deep down. It was like breaking a chain.

Now that I’m Ariel, I’m no longer ashamed of myself.

It’s different for the others. It’s not so easy for them to get into character. Some can’t manage it at all. Especially the Calabrians and the Apulians. They’re really tense, and barely open their mouths. It’s almost impossible for them to get inside a character’s head. They have constant problems delivering their lines.

‘But why do I have to insult him? I don’t use that kind of language!’

‘It’s not you saying it. It’s the character!’

The short circuit between Shakespeare and the Calabrian code of conduct risks derailing the entire show. And let’s not even talk about the Sicilians.

‘“You are men of sin!” If you want to escape the “lingering perdition”, the “wraths” about to be unleashed on you, you have repent and live honestly!’ I declaim passionately, addressing the actors playing Alonso, Antonio and Sebastian. I’m standing on top of one of the bunk beds that we’re using as a set and they’re looking up at me in astonishment. They’ve been convicted of murder, drug trafficking and Mafia association.

They throw their scripts on the ground.

‘Sasà, what are you saying? We’re supposed to repent?’ Lello, who is playing Antonio, has got his hackles up.

‘Poor Sasà, first they make you play a chick, and now an infame…’ Daniele, who’s playing Alonso, is sympathetic. ‘But we’re not playing infami, we’re not naming names!’

‘Nobody has to name names,’ I explain patiently.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.