by Alessandra Ressa
Sala Bartoli is a very popular destination for cultural evenings in Trieste. It is a small auditorium on the top floor of Teatro Rossetti, with 128 seats and a small stage that offers contemporary, often unconventional plays, as well as controversial works. Because of the distinctive and original nature of the shows, in addition to its affordable fares, it is one of Triestini’s favorite and the shows are often sold out.
It was the case of the monologue on stage this week Commandant at Auschwitz, by and with Riccardo Maranzana, a bloodcurdling account of the last few days of SS German officer and war criminal Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss, responsible for the death of almost two million people while commander at Auschwitz extermination camp.
“As an actor and a playwright I have always looked upon the process of psychological and physical transformation of human beings with profound interest. By process of transformation I mean the slow and often imperceptible changes that eventually lead us to do things that we thought unimaginable.” The show, on stage from January 25 to January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, was quickly sold out.
The remorseless memoirs, which Maranzana interpreted magnificently, were interrupted at times by one of Trieste’s greatest contemporary musicians, Riccardo Morpurgo, at the piano. “In this case – Maranzana concludes – we are looking at absolute evil. What is the process that transforms a family man in a mass murderer? What leads a peaceful man to commits thousands upon thousands of killings?” Maranzana does not offer an answer, but leaves the audience with an awkward sense of uneasiness. Could we too, or the people we know, become impassive, remorseless murderers?
Check out the season program of Sala Bartoli at https://www.ilrossetti.it/it/stagione/sala-bartoli
