Extremely Honest Lies

The programming at Vertigo resumes after a short break with a performance by young Roman professionals. On November 11th at 9 pm and November 12th, 2023 at 5 pm, the tour of the show titled M.E.S. (Extremely Sincere Lies), conceived, written, and directed by Emiliano De Martino, will restart on the stage of the Enzina Conte theater at Vertigo in Livorno.

A brilliant text but at the same time full of reflections on the couple’s relationship. Two couples, two worlds as different as they are similar, four people who live their lives as they believe and feel is right, but the reality that surrounds them and the deeper structure of their being will lead them to face unexpected and unforeseen openings and closures. Needs, desires, impulses, and fantasies are the elements that unite all couples in the world, and the difference between our two couples, which are portrayed and drawn like the tips of two enormous icebergs, lies not in wanting or desiring to have these characteristic elements, but solely and exclusively in the quantity and quality of dialogue within the couple itself.

Stella and Rolando are a young couple, already consolidated and mature, to the point of having an open and sincere dialogue between them, which to external and non-compliant eyes leads those who live with them to consider them the typical example of an open couple, free to pursue their impulses outside of their “WE” and at the same time strong and determined to maintain this strange “WE,” imposing themselves to live in truth and mutual respect for their feelings, which they experience as solid and strong.

Melania and Luigi, on the other hand, face life relying on the “WE” that comes from their upbringing and their respective families of origin. They are adults, but not too much, a couple in their 30s. They live their “WE” with respect and possession, as tradition suggests, but deep down they do not differ from Stella and Rolando in their needs. What changes is only the dialogue, which is less open and less understanding towards the other person but towards themselves. In their innermost being, they experience exactly the same characteristics of the “open” couple, and fate will bring the four protagonists to intertwine their lives in a game of misunderstandings, misunderstandings, different morals in comparison, and direct knowledge of the reality opposite to theirs. The author draws on existing and impactful dramatic structures, drawing from and paying homage to texts such as Harold Pinter’s “The Lover” and incorporating that narrative and general rhythm into his writing and development.

A journey into the new starting from the “WE,” where that “WE” is always different and never similar or comparable to other “WE” scattered around the world. Each couple is a universe, an iceberg, where “what is evident is not always clear to everyone,” even though it is on the evidence that we are now inclined to judge other people’s lives.

On stage: Rolando: Nico Alex Scagliola – Stella: Lucrezia Calzoni – Luigi: Alfonso Brescia – Melania: Roberta Pinto

Assistant Director: Gianluca Lombardi – Assistant to the Director: Arina Sazontova
With the artistic collaboration of: EDM FACTORY – Emiliano De Martino’s Artistic Academy