Pinocchio, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1981

The focus on Pinocchio of Carmelo Bene is articulated in five sections concerning the five editions/rewritings of Collodi’s text, of which Bene was director and protagonist: Pinocchio of 1962 (with the repetition to Spoleto in 1964); Pinocchio of 1966; Pinocchio (Storia di un burattino) of 1981 and Pinocchio ovvero lo spettacolo della provvidenza of 1998.

Pinocchio (1962)

from Carlo Collodi
directed by Carmelo Bene
scenes by Carmelo Bene
costumes by Carmelo Bene
masks by Salvator Vendittelli
with Carmelo Bene (Pinocchio), Edoardo Torricella (Geppetto), Rosa Bianca Scerrino (Fata turchina), Gino Lavagetto (Lucignolo), Alfiero Vincenti (Gatto), Edoardo Torricella (Pappagallo), Stefano Carletti, Nino Casali, Manlio Nevastri, Mario Tempesta
Premiere Rome, Teatro Laboratorio, June 5, 1962

Pinocchio (1964)

from Carlo Collodi
directed by Carmelo Bene
scenes by Carmelo Bene
costumes by Carmelo Bene
masks by Salvator Vendittelli
with Carmelo Bene (Pinocchio) , Edoardo Torricella (Geppetto), Luigi Mezzanotte (Fata turchina), Gino Lavagetto (Lucignolo), Alfiero Vincenti (Gatto), Edoardo Torricella (Pappagallo)
Premiere Spoleto, July 4, 1964

Pinocchio’66 (1966)

from Carlo Collodi
direction and adaptation by Carmelo Bene
scenes by Carmelo Bene
costumes by Carmelo Bene
masks by Salvatore Vendittelli
technical director Elia Jezzi
lights by S. e M. Feliciangeli
with Carmelo Bene (Pinocchio), Edoardo Florio (Geppetto, Il grillo parlante, Mangiafuoco, L’oste, Il lumacone, Il pappagallo), Lydia Mancinelli (La fatina dai capelli turchini,  La volpe), Luigi Mezzanotte (Lucignolo), Valeria Nardone (Ragazzo, Civetta), Manlio Nevastri, Piero Vida (Clown, Mastro Ciliegia, Il gatto, L’omino di burro, L’imbonitore)
Premiere Pisa, Teatro Verdi, February 19, 1966

Pinocchio. Storia di un burattino (1981)

from Carlo Collodi
directed by Carmelo Bene
scenes and costumes by Carmelo Bene
stage music by Gaetano Giani Luporini
masks by Giovanni Gianese
with Carmelo Bene, Lydia Mancinelli e con la partecipazione dei fratelli Mascherra
Premiere Pisa, Teatro Verdi, December 5, 1981

Pinocchio ovvero lo spettacolo della provvidenza (1998)

reduction and adaptation from Carlo Collodi
scenes and masks by Tiziano Fario
costumes by Luisa Viglietti
music by Gaetano Giani Luporini
lights by Davide Ronchieri
live sound by Marcello Aiello
with Carmelo Bene e Sonia Bergamasco
Premiere Rome, Teatro dell’Angelo, November 10, 1998

Carmelo Bene’s Pinocchios (from 1962 to 1981). An introduction

by Donatella Orecchia
It was in 1962 that Carmelo Bene opened his Teatro Laboratorio in Rome, and inaugurated it with his Pinocchio on June 5th. From that date onwards for the year that followed, the space at 23, Via Roma Libera (in the heart of the area of Trastevere) hosted the two versions of Spettacolo-Majakovskij, Capricci, Amleto, Addio porco, Federico Garcia Lorca, Cristo 63; then, after the Laboratorio’s closure, Bene staged his Edoardo II, i Polacchi, and Salomé. In July 1964 he was in Spoleto with Amleto and a one-night-only version of Pinocchio. In Pisa, on February 19th, 1966, he presented the second version of Pinocchio. A new edition followed in 1981, marking the anniversary of Collodi’s publication of the text, and then again in 1998, as part of Rome’s Autumn Festival. We can see how Pinocchio and its various rewrites accompanied Bene’s period of inquiry from the beginning – Bene’s first piece is Caligola (1959) – to the end, until he passed away in 2002. The collection of rewrites could be seen, forcing a literary semiotic category, as a sort of “macrotext” which makes visible a poetic and linguistic world which Bene cyclically returned to, also in order to return to a part of himself and of his own history, with the sometimes profound discontinuities which this also entailed.