Review: HANNO TUTTI RAGIONE, The Print Room At The Coronet

The first edition of the Italian Theatre Festival, curated by Monica Capuani and in partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute in London, has the goal to bring contemporary Italian theatre to London. Presented in Italian with surtitles, it kicks off with Hanno Tutti Regione (which means 'everyone is right'), written by Academy Award winner Paolo Sorrentino and directed and performed by Iaia Forte.

Adapted from part of the homonymous book by Sorrentino, the narrative is fairly simple: Tony Pagoda addresses the public before, during, and after his concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York. He knows Frank Sinatra is going to be in attendance, so the stakes are high. As performed by Forte, Tony becomes a meaningless caricature. A low and raspy voice is accompanied by stereotypically masculine demeanour.

The weight that alcohol, cocaine and prostitutes seem to have in the script isn't conveyed as wearily as it probably should, therefore the character's story strays from being a cautionary tale and has virtually no depth in its shallow discourse on money and fame.

Sequinned jacket and cowboy boots become emblematic of the cheap and bawdy entertainment that Hanno Tutti Ragione offers. Quite distasteful is also the directorial choice of keeping an unnecessary, objectionable, and utterly abhorrent rape scene: it happens offstage; his assistant screams and then moans, Tony comes back gloating, he inexplicably laughs with the Italian audience as he adjusts his crotch.

It's a show that pretends to give a deep portrayal of a coarse character but ends up being unsophisticated itself. Multiple times, it feels like a rehearsed reading of the monologue rather than a full production, with Forte sitting down on a bar stool reading from a music stand.

The festival is sadly off to a rocky start and Hanno Tutti Ragione doesn't give justice to the long-standing tradition rooted in Italian theatre.

The Italian Theatre Festival in running at The Print Room at the Coronet 30-31 August.

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