Carmelo Rifici signs the direction of The Dangerous Liaisons, a work based on the famous epistolary novel by Pierre-Ambroise-François Choderlos de Laclos that the director chose to rewrite together with Livia Rossi, his former pupil at the “Luca Ronconi” School of Theatre at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan.
On stage, alongside a cast of actors with consolidated experience such as Elena Ghiaurov, Monica Piseddu and Edoardo Ribatto, are the young Flavio Capuzzo Dolcetta, Livia Rossi and the composer and sound designer Federica Furlani.
While maintaining the epistolary structure, the proper names of the senders and recipients of the letters and the substance of the plot, Laclos's work is rewritten by Rifici and Rossi through research work on the texts of numerous philosophers and literary figures: from Artaud to Pier Paolo Pasolini, Friedrich Nietzsche to Simone Weil and Fedor Dostojevskij, to name the most emblematic names.
Novels, letters, essays, suggestions of thoughts and words written by different pens and sensibilities, sometimes antithetical to each other, which, despite their substantial diversity and origin, express depth and restlessness of thought and writing.
Rifici wishes to bring to the surface the violence and war potential of the letters: rather than the psychological profile of the characters, he intends to bring out the ideologies that underlie them, the same ideologies that suggested the meeting with the authors and philosophers from which the work draws its inspiration.
With Le relazioni pericolose, Rifici invites us on a journey into the painful battlefield of thought, where Language meets and clashes with Word
inspired by
Il teatro e la peste, Antonin Artaud
Il castello interiore, Teresa d’Avila
Vita, Teresa d’Avila
Massa e potere, Elias Canetti
Della guerra, Carl von Clausewitz
L’idiota, Fëdor Dostoevskij
Portando Clausewitz all’estremo, René Girard
Le relazioni pericolose, Christopher Hampton
Lettera a Lord Chandos, Hugo Von Hofmannsthal
Poesie, John Keats
Le relazioni pericolose, Pierre-Ambroise-François Choderlos de Laclos
L’anticristo, Friedrich Nietzsche
Lettera a don Giovanni Rossi, Pier Paolo Pasolini
Justine, Donatien-Alphonse-François de Sade
La persona e il sacro, Simone Weil
Sovvertimento dei sensi, Stefan Zweig
Lettera di una sconosciuta, Stefan Zweig
e al Cantico dei Cantici
phrases quoted from
The Seagull, Anton Chekhov
The Betrothed, Alessandro Manzoni
dramaturgy
Carmelo Rifici
Livia Rossi
source research
Carmelo Rifici
Ugo Fiore
Livia Rossi
direction
Carmelo Rifici
with (in alphabetical order)
Flavio Capuzzo Dolcetta
Federica Furlani
Elena Ghiaurov
Monica Piseddu
Edoardo Ribatto
Livia Rossi
sound design
Federica Furlani
scenic installation
Carmelo Rifici
Pierfranco Sofia
lighting design
Giulia Pastore
visual project
Daniele Spanò
costumes
Margherita Platé
body dramaturgy
Alessandro Sciarroni
assistant directors
Ugo Fiore
Simon Waldvogel
period costumes made at the
Compagnia Italiana della Moda e del Costume
and by
Giulia Alvaro
audio and sound technology research
Brian Burgan
props design and realisation
Matteo Bagutti
production and programming manager
Massimo Monaci
production coordinator
Maurizio Corradini
production contact person
Susanna Plata
production officer
Alice Cinzi
production manager
Cristina Bartolone
distribution
Massimo Monaci
Maurizio Corradini
organisation
Maria Fico
technical director
Pierfranco Sofia
technical coordinator
Sarah Chiarcos
stage director
Ruben Leporoni
ETC lighting programmer and electrician
Giovanni Voegeli
sound engineer
Brian Burgan
communication
Alessio Manzan
Alice Croci Torti
press office
Anna Poletti
Silvia Pacciarini
documentation and editing
Nicola Fiori
social media and multimedia
Anna Domenigoni
Agnese D'Ascanio
graphics
Mike Toebbe
Irene Masdonati
stage photos
Luca Del Pia
video archives and promotion
Giacomo Jaeggli
Olmo Cerri, REC
marketing
Gregory Birth
Abigaille Gianinazzi
production
LAC Lugano Art and Culture
We would like to thank
Perry Tièche of RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera for supplying the period sound equipment
e
Fabio Liberatore for advice and technical support
Naturhistorischen Museum Bern - Eine Institution der Burgergemeinde Bern for the kind loan of the wolf specimen (Canis lupus)
07.03.2022
LAC, Lugano
Teatro Elfo Puccini, Milano
28.02–05.03.2023
Teatro Gobetti, Torino
07–12.03.2023
Teatro Comunale di Casalmaggiore
30.03.2023
Teatro Arena del Sole, Bologna
01–02.04.2023
Teatro Vascello, Roma
18–23.04.2023
Teatro della Tosse, Genova
06–08.04.2023
Giornate del Teatro Svizzero, Friburgo
02.06.2023
Trailer
At the tailor's shop
In anticipation of the play's absolute debut, we share some shots taken at the Compagnia Italiana della Moda e del Costume during the rehearsal of Margherita Platé's fascinating 18th-century costumes.
Rehearsals
In the Teatrostudio, under the watchful eye of our Artistic Director Carmelo Rifici, rehearsals continue with a cast of experienced actors such as Elena Ghiaurov, Monica Piseddu and Edoardo Ribatto, joined by young talents Flavio Capuzzo Dolcetta, Livia Rossi and composer and sound designer Federica Furlani.
