The Piccolo Teatro performed the pieces - Le Smanie per la villeggiatura ("Pining for Holiday"), Le Avventure della villeggiatura ("Holiday Adventures") and Il Ritorno della villeggiatura ('Back from Holiday") - in collaboration with the Teatri Uniti from Naples. The production premiered in 2007 to mark the 300th anniversary of Goldoni's birth and the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Piccolo Teatro.
Giorgio Strehler, the founder of the Piccolo Teatro, who died in 1997, called the trilogy a "comedy of love" , but the audience in Budapest's Palace of Arts saw something closer to a "tragedy of love" in Servillo's rendering (though Strehler would have appreciated the performance). Anna Della Rosa played the tragic heroine superbly. Outstanding performances were also delivered by Paolo Grazioso in the role of the carefree Filippo, by Betti Pedrazzi, who played the aging Sabina, and by Andrea Renzi as Leonardo. Tommaso Ragno gave a convincing performance as a sceptic, suffering failed love.
Author: Tamás Tarján
