Non si muore di fame ma di cattive abitudini
Seen at Torino Fringe Festival on the 19th of May 2023
4 Stars – To get lost, laugh, and mourn at a rhythm
An original and contemporary comedy that adheres to reality in the way it feels like a labyrinth. It feels knowable but may not be, it consists of bright areas of fun and enjoyment as well as dim corners where conflicts and sorrows are waiting to be uncovered.
The kitchen of the restaurant ‘Mamma Mimma’ is the set of the play – and a whole universe. The company Doppeltraum Teatro brings its six characters to life: the young Abdul (Alessio Zirulia), Angelo (Flavio Vigna) and his sister Laura (Chiara Bosco), who run the place while being monitored by their mother Mimma (voice: Maria Grazia Solano), their cousin Carola (Cristina Renda), the old but energetic maître Ermete (Federico Palumeri), and the French cook Cécile (Luana Doni). Tensions and conflicts burst when the stress of lunch and dinner services is added to them, but irony often breaks those moments, lighting them up with humour. Rhythm is flawless throughout the play, and Elvira Scorza’s clever direction valorises it at the most. Some characters, especially Ermete and Abdul, end up being memorable.
A multiplicity of themes is faced: migration, rights, work, sustainability, family, masculinity types, relationships, gambling, homophobia, death, and future perspectives for young people, only to quote the main ones. Despite this variety enriching the play, some confusion is also engendered, which can be distracting both during the show and in the following reflection on it. Some repairs are there for the spectator to catch, and the light (Umberto Camponeschi and Nicolò Mazzon) and music (Filippo Conti) design are partially conceived to help in this sense, even though there is obviously no time to dig deep into all of the themes. Can this be interpreted as a manifesto of the writer-director, or as a depiction of the more and more complex world we live in? It is to the spectator to give their own reading.
16th-21st of May 2023, 9.30 pm
Running time: 90 minutes
Venue: Bunker, Spazio Volpe – Via Niccolò Paganini, 0/200 Torino
Tickets and Info: https://www.tofringe.it/eventi-23/all-you-can-bet/
Company Website: http://www.doppeltraum.it/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Csdf40pNQex/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/doppeltraum.teatro/?locale=it_IT
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DoppeltraumTe
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg5GmGJYVXDcHQCO7R4yzCQ
Butterwort 
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