Tonight We Improvise
Encyclopedia
Tonight We Improvise is a play by Luigi Pirandello
. Like his more famous Six Characters in Search of an Author
, it forms part of his "trilogy of the theatre in the theatre
." It premiered in 1930 in a German
translation in Königsberg
, and had its first Italian
performance in Turin
on April 14, 1930.
It has been translated into English
by Samuel Putnam
(1932), Marta Abba
(1959), and J. Douglas Campbell and Leonard Sbrocchi (1987).
After some argument between the actors and Hinkfuss, the play begins. It concerns the La Croce family - Signor Palmiro, a sulfur mine engineer, his forceful wife Signora Ignazia, and their four daughters, Mommina, Totina, Dorina, and Nenè - who have moved from Naples
to the more socially conservative Sicily
. The family is popular with a local company of air force
officers, who love the mother and flirt with the daughters; however, this behavior earns the family the disapproval of the rest of the town, as well as of Rico Verri, one of the other officers.
One night, Signor Palmiro is brought home bleeding by a cabaret singer whom he loves, after having been stabbed defending her honor, and dies. This having coincided with a fight among the actors as to how much they should keep to the script, the Old Comic Actor's entrance is ruined, and the actors, angry at Hinkfuss's meddling, throw him out of the theatre.
The next scene takes place years later. Mommina has married Rico Verri, who is mad with jealousy over what he imagines to be her sexual history with the other officers. After he abuses her and leaves, Mommina - guided by the offstage voices of her mother and sisters - finds a handbill in his coat advertising a production of Il Trovatore
in which Totina, now a famous opera singer, is performing. She describes the theatre to her two children, who have never seen it, and tells them the story of the opera, singing snatches of it, with her heart beating ever faster and her breath growing ever weaker, until she sings Manrico's line in the Act IV farewell duet - Leonora, addio! - and falls dead.
The other actors end the play, running on to find Mommina dead. They believe that the Lead Actress has fainted, but she gets up, and after the actors insist on written parts, Doctor Hinkfuss, who has returned, apologizes to the audience for the night's irregularities.
Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
. Like his more famous Six Characters in Search of an Author
Six Characters in Search of an Author
Six Characters in Search of an Author is a play by the Italian writer Luigi Pirandello.The play is a satirical tragicomedy. It was first performed in 1921 at the Teatro Valle in Rome, to a very mixed reception, with shouts from the audience of "Manicomio!" .Subsequently the play enjoyed a much...
, it forms part of his "trilogy of the theatre in the theatre
Metatheatre
The term "metatheatre", coined by Lionel Abel, has entered into common critical usage; however, there is still much uncertainty over its proper definition and what dramatic techniques might be included in its scope...
." It premiered in 1930 in a German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
translation in Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
, and had its first Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
performance in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
on April 14, 1930.
It has been translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
by Samuel Putnam
Samuel Putnam
Samuel Putnam was an American translator and scholar of Romance languages.His most famous work is his 1949 English translation of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote...
(1932), Marta Abba
Marta Abba
Marta Abba was an Italian actress who had a relationship with the playwright Luigi Pirandello, a Nobel Prize winner....
(1959), and J. Douglas Campbell and Leonard Sbrocchi (1987).
Plot synopsis
A company of actors under the direction of Doctor Hinkfuss is to present an improvisation on Pirandello's novella Leonora, Addio! Hinkfuss explains that his plan for having the actors improvise, as the spirit moves them, is an attempt to allow the work to stage itself, with characters rather than actors. However, his actors are frustrated at the conflict inherent in Hinkfuss's instructions: to completely become their characters, but also to come when they are called and adapt themselves to Hinkfuss's decisions about what should happen when.After some argument between the actors and Hinkfuss, the play begins. It concerns the La Croce family - Signor Palmiro, a sulfur mine engineer, his forceful wife Signora Ignazia, and their four daughters, Mommina, Totina, Dorina, and Nenè - who have moved from Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
to the more socially conservative Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
. The family is popular with a local company of air force
Italian Air Force
The Italian Air Force has gone under different names in different periods:*Regia Aeronautica , from 1923 to June 1946*Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana, the air force of Italian Social Republic during World War II...
officers, who love the mother and flirt with the daughters; however, this behavior earns the family the disapproval of the rest of the town, as well as of Rico Verri, one of the other officers.
One night, Signor Palmiro is brought home bleeding by a cabaret singer whom he loves, after having been stabbed defending her honor, and dies. This having coincided with a fight among the actors as to how much they should keep to the script, the Old Comic Actor's entrance is ruined, and the actors, angry at Hinkfuss's meddling, throw him out of the theatre.
The next scene takes place years later. Mommina has married Rico Verri, who is mad with jealousy over what he imagines to be her sexual history with the other officers. After he abuses her and leaves, Mommina - guided by the offstage voices of her mother and sisters - finds a handbill in his coat advertising a production of Il Trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
in which Totina, now a famous opera singer, is performing. She describes the theatre to her two children, who have never seen it, and tells them the story of the opera, singing snatches of it, with her heart beating ever faster and her breath growing ever weaker, until she sings Manrico's line in the Act IV farewell duet - Leonora, addio! - and falls dead.
The other actors end the play, running on to find Mommina dead. They believe that the Lead Actress has fainted, but she gets up, and after the actors insist on written parts, Doctor Hinkfuss, who has returned, apologizes to the audience for the night's irregularities.