There are many different kind of Comedy: vaudeville, Commedia dell’Arte, dark comedy, absurd comedy, cabaret, stand-up, improv, sit-com… and many others.
But they all have in common for me is the ability to turn daily life into the scene of incredible adventures and to turn daily tragedies and dark aspects of life into the funniest, most hysterical sketches.
That’s what happens in “The Mandrake Root” where apparently the whole story turns around an Italian lady’s beauty and a gentleman’s willing to sleep with her. But this, obviously, is just a huge metaphor: how many layers you’ll find under the surface!
I see Comedy as an extremely cathartic genre: through a joke or a funny scene you can talk about the most terrible and bitter aspects of life but still charming the audience and bringing it on your side.
Making someone laugh is the easiest way to connect with them and to share a deep message; and after the first reaction, the laughter should turn into thought and it should leave into the audience a question or – even better – an opinion.
As an actress and a stand-up comedienne working on this play has given me the opportunity to study a Master of literature and to observe his way of talking about huge topics such as Politics, Love, Life and Death and making them so enjoyable and close for anybody.