Studi teatrali comparati

Course title: "Don Giovanni protean and migrant."

Part A (20 hrs. - 3 cfu): "Origin and definition of the myth: 'intermedial' Don Juan in the theater of Ancien Régime Europe."

Part B (20 hours - 3 cfu): "Apotheosis, decline and rebirth: from the 18th century to the present day."

The course will investigate a pivotal theme in the European theatrical tradition, namely that of Don Juan, tracing its evolution and asking whether this myth is still relevant today. It will then seek to define its characteristics in such a way as to be able to follow its metamorphoses and migrations through time (from its birth to the present), space (through the various countries in which it has spread) and forms (through the different genres, theatrical and otherwise, that have conveyed it).

Learning Unit A

The first part of the course will place the myth in the context of European Baroque theater, the salient features of which will be illustrated in relation to the various areas such as dramaturgy, acting, stage design, theatrical architecture, political and economic management, etc.

In comparing borrowings and differences within the textual tradition, special emphasis will be given to that of the so-called Commedia dell'Arte (and the related production of scenery and canovacci), which were instrumental in conveying the myth, but are normally penalized by the traditional canons of judgment - literary rather than scenic - adopted in the analysis of theatrical texts. The contribution of musical inserts and stagecraft effects in the various staging examined will also be valued, up to the most striking example constituted by the melodrama of the L'empio punito (1669), that is, the first musical version of this subject. In addition to well-known texts, such as El burlador de Sevilla or Molière's Dom Juan, numerous other rewritings will be analyzed, such as those by Giovan Battista Andreini, Giacinto Andrea Cicognini, Andrea Perrucci (in Italy), Dorimond, Rosimond, Thomas Corneille (in France), Thomas Shadwell (in England), and others.

The purpose of this excursus is to enucleate the characterizing features and recurring topoi, that is, everything that allows (and has allowed) the theme to be flexible and coherent at the same time. It will also lay the groundwork for a reflection on the ambivalent attitude of the audience (and thus its social and cultural context) that has ensured its success, despite periodic condemnations and stigmatizations.

Learning Unit B

The second part will deal with the evolution of the myth in the eighteenth century, the Age of Enlightenment, to which we owe the best-known theatrical case, namely Mozart - Da Ponte's Il dissoluto punito, ossia il don Giovanni (1787), but which also produced Carlo Goldoni's Il don Giovanni Tenorio (1736), as well as numerous other melodramatic versions and even ballets. It will be an opportunity to reflect on several aspects, such as the variable definition of the theatrical genre (referred to both as tragic and comic) and the evolution in the treatment of themes such as seduction and desecration, the representation of female figures, the relationship with death and the afterlife, and ultimately the main leitmotifs accompanying the myth. In its final phase, the course will branch out into the exploration of several axes, including that of the iconography and visual representation of the don Juan, that of the progressive degradation of the character (the 'don Juan prêt-à-porter,' i.e., the Latin-lover of TV series and mainstream films) to the examination of some contemporary twentieth-century directing, the latter normally devoted to Mozart's opera (such as Joseph Losey's film adaptation and the stage directions of Luca Ronconi, Giorgio Strehler, Peter Brook, Robert Carsen, etc. ) but also to Molière's Dom Juan (e.g., Jean Vilar and Vsevolod Mejerchol'd, etc.).

Throughout the course, class discussion and active contribution by students will be particularly encouraged. To this end, they will be invited to prepare an oral presentation, either individual or group, to be given in the final phase of the second teaching unit, according to modalities that will be provided during the course. Based on the agreed topic, it will be the responsibility of the professor to provide any bibliographical tools necessary to supplement the research. Each student will then submit an individual written work, developed from the presentation given in class, to be handed in in written form two weeks before the exam (20,000 characters).