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ShareWho would think fascist Italy would find common ground in aamchi Mumbai? Shivani Tibrewala did and thanks to her we find ourselves engrossed in a dramatisation of Italian writer Italo Calvino's 'Raccontini' (a collection of five short stories) being held at Kitab Mahal this Saturday at 7 pm.
"They are so contemporary and relevant. Even if they were writing about fascist Italy, I related to them immediately," explains Tibrewala who adapted and directed the play from Calvino's short stories.
The five stories played out by actors Uday Chandra, Shamath Mazumdar, Vishal Patel, Isabella Rodricks, Srimoyee Mitra and Shivani herself talk about 'following the herd' and discuss asserting oneself as opposed to going with the flow.
The play developed in 2002 when the Indo Italian Chamber of Commerce invited Shivani to put up something Italian in theme. When Shivani stumbled upon Calvino's short stories, she knew she had hit the jackpot. "I've been used to directing my own scripts 'cause no one else is going to do it," she laughs. "This was the first script I hadn't written on my own...I was sure Calvino was turning in his grave."
The Italian writer's satire and whimsical humour was the perfect tool to mock Italy's fascist regime during and after WWII. Calvino was a recipient of the French Legion d'Honneur and also contributed to Playboy magazine. Shivani's pick of 'The Man Who Shouted Teresa', 'Making Do', 'Solidarity', 'Conscience' and 'Neanderthal Man' are each ten minutes long.
"It's their tongue-in-cheek humour that makes them so universal. We've performed before but this is our first ticketed show, so we are a bit skeptical. We had to hire sound equipment and at one point, I was actually wondering if we need it, thinking that perhaps not more than five people may actually turn up."
