Review: LA BALLATA DI JOHNNY E GILL at Théâtre Des Capucins

At the end of last week, the Théatre des Capucins welcomed Fausto Paravidino's La Ballata di Johnny e Gill, a three-hour comedy play that sought not only to entertain, but also stimulate reflection about topics of deep social significance.

The story follows the odyssey of Johnny (Federico Brugnone) and Gill (Iris Fusetti), a young couple that decides to leave their home town and seek a better life in America. Although they speak Italian throughout most of the play, their actual origins remain somewhat unclear. Brugnone's character starts the show as an idealistic dreamer, who even in moments of tremendous hardship keeps his head above the water. As time progresses, however, he begins to struggle to keep true to his younger self, after the realities of life and society start wearing him down. Fusetti's Gill goes down a similar path, with this headstrong and brave woman gradually maturing into someone who has seen the true colours of life. Both actors are the anchors of the narrative, seldom assuming any other minor role, which naturally allowed them to have the best character progression of the play and create the strongest bond with the audience.

As they are leaving their home town, they are joined in this journey by Lucky (Fausto Paravidino himself), the funniest voice on stage. Lucky is present for a good part of the play, providing great lightness to darker moments of the story, and filling the role of the hilarious side-kick who is always ready to add a punchline to any conversation. He is with the pair during their dreadful crossing of the desert and sea, as well as during their first years in America. The rest of the cast was introduced with shorter appearances that helped to steer the plot, either through secondary characters with a significant presence, or minor ones with masks and very few lines. Their versatility was truly put to the test here, with some actors like Aleph Viola having to range from the dangerous mobster known as The Pharaoh, to the shy and well-intended son of Johnny and Gill.

One of the best aspects of this play was the chemistry between the members of the cast. There were a handful of cases during comic moments, when you could spot a smile or two that were most probably not on the script. In our opinion, this only added to the strength of the scene, making it even funnier to watch. Humour is not about sticking to lines rigorously, nor following a mathematical approach to produce laughter. It is very often about the moment, and the chemistry of those acting on stage can truly make the difference. Also, you know you have reached your goal when you manage to get an audience laughing in three or four overlapping languages.

In fact, one of the most important themes of the play was the impact of language barriers in human interaction and, even in a nation like Luxembourg, reaching comedic success in that many idioms can truly be called an achievement. Our last note of praise goes to the use of props in the construction of certain scenes, especially at the beginning. The direction of these parts of the story was exquisite, with the cast managing to do a lot for the development of different types of atmosphere without resorting to complex sceneries.

Perhaps the only point working a bit against the play was the attempt to do too much at the same time. Humour is something constantly present in almost every scene of the show, yet we are also invited to reflect on topics like the already mentioned effect of languages in social interaction, the challenges and extreme hardships of modern migrations, the importance of family, the concept of sacrifice, the problems of jealousy, the effects of consumerism in society or even the wonders and sorrows of life and death. All while learning about not only the lives of Johnny and Gill, but also of many other secondary characters that they interact with along their path. We were fine with this mix, but it is understandable if other members of the audience might have struggled with three hours depicting several aspects of the life journey of a loving couple.

Our thanks to Mr Paravidino and the cast for a lovely evening and, once again, to the Grand Théâtre for making it available.

Image credit: Vincent Berenger

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