Summer Holiday Fever

“The world is the book from which I have learned the most,” wrote one of the greatest masters of Italian drama, Carlo Goldoni. In his work, the world sparkles and surges with extraordinary force through people, their conversations and everyday situations. By creating simple, authentic, convincing and accessible stories, Goldoni depicts human relationships from within, unfolding them in all their shades and turning them into a metaphor for the world itself. In the 18th century, clouded by uncertain prospects for the future and steeped in inexplicable cruelty, when there was a sense that Europe would soon experience a turning point that would change the face of society forever, Goldoni remained profoundly humane, able to envelop people in love and warmth even while sharply criticising them. Transcending his own time, the playwright grasped the condition of modern people and the concerns that trouble them, and highlighted the importance of a woman’s character as she questioned her deeply rooted traditional role in society. His mastery is superbly revealed in the grand “The Holiday Trilogy”, comprising three works: “Summer Holiday Fever”, “Summer Holiday Adventures” and “The Return from the Summer Holiday”. This autumn, director Gabrielė Tuminaitė will present the first part of the trilogy, “Summer Holiday Fever”, at Vilniaus mažasis teatras. Livorno. The characters are feverishly preparing to leave for summer holidays at country villas. At the forefront is Leonardo’s jealousy of his fiancée Giacinta, who is also being courted by the young Guglielmo. In their desperate rush, they disregard both financial and moral standards, consumed by vanity. They hope that, once away at the villas—in that magical “elsewhere”—they will fulfil themselves as people and the problems they are running from will resolve themselves. But it soon becomes clear that the problem lies much deeper: in their complete inability to manage their lives, which are hurtling at full speed towards the abyss. As the characters are continually tossed between anxiety, jealousy, outbursts of anger and irritation, the pace never lets up; the momentum builds to madness. As if possessed by this mass evacuation, they leave their own homes—their theatre—littered, ransacked and devastated, and rush elsewhere, where things are “better”, hoping to become what they have been promised: more talented, more beautiful and more widely recognised.