The Summer Holiday Frenzy

“The world is the book from which I have learned the most,” wrote Carlo Goldoni, one of the greatest masters of Italian drama. In his work, this world sparkles and surges with extraordinary force through people, their conversations and everyday situations. Creating simple, authentic, convincing and accessible stories, Goldoni portrays human relationships from within, unfolding them in all their shades and turning them into a metaphor for the world itself. In the eighteenth century, clouded by uncertain prospects for the future and permeated by inexplicable cruelty, there was a sense that Europe would soon experience a turning point that would forever change the face of society. Goldoni is profoundly humane, able to envelop people in love and warmth even as he fiercely criticises them. In his work, the playwright transcended his time, capturing the condition of modern people and the concerns that torment them. He highlighted the importance of women who questioned their entrenched traditional role in society. This mastery is brilliantly displayed in his great “The Holiday Trilogy,” comprising three plays: “The Summer Holiday Frenzy,” “The Summer Holiday Adventures” and “The Return from the Summer Holiday.” This autumn, director Gabrielė Tuminaitė will present the trilogy’s first play, “The Summer Holiday Frenzy,” at Valstybinis Vilniaus mažasis teatras. Livorno. The characters are feverishly preparing to leave for their 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 limits, consumed by vanity. They hope that, once they leave for the villas, in that magical “elsewhere,” they will fulfil themselves, 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 racing headlong towards an abyss. As the characters swing constantly between anxiety, jealousy, outbursts of anger and irritation, the play’s pace keeps accelerating and its energy rises to the point of madness. As if possessed by this mass evacuation, they abandon their own homes—their theatre—littered, ransacked and devastated, and hurry elsewhere, somewhere “better,” hoping to become what they have been promised: more talented, more beautiful and more widely recognised.