ENRICO IV, A MONOLOGUE
FROM LUIGI PIRANDELLO’S PLAY
Enrico IV is a tragedy in three acts by Luigi Pirandello, produced and published in 1922. The theme of Enrico IV is madness, which lies just under the skin of ordinary life and is, perhaps, superior to ordinary life in its construction of a satisfying reality.
Adapted from Luigi Pirandello’s Enrico IV by Rocco Sisto and Laura Caparrotti,
translation by Gloria Pastorino,
Set by Sarah Edkins,
Directed by Laura Caparrotti,
with Rocco Sisto.
Because, when all is said and done, what do they really impose? Words! Words that everyone understands and interprets their his own way! That too is how public opinion is formed! Too bad for the poor devil who finds himself labelled by one of these words everybody is repeating! For instance: “Madman”! Or I don’t know: “Imbecile”! This is really crazy: can you imagine that there are people who lose sleep trying to persuade others that you are the way they see you? People who try to fix you in other people’s minds according to the opinion that they have formed of you?
Production History
September 2017 First showing, Italian Cultural Institute, NY
November 2017, Cherry Lane Studio, NY
October 2017, Embassy of Itay, Washingon DC
January 2025, Modern Language Association, New Orleans
