By Cesare Zucca

Milano, Teatro Parenti (former Salone Pier Lombardo) was created in 1972, by Franco Parenti e Andrée Ruth Shammah, with Giovanni Testori, Dante Isella and Gian Maurizio Fercioni, From there till now it has been a point of reference for the cultural and artistic life of the city of Milan. Oriented both towards new Italian and foreign productions and towards the reinterpretation of classic texts in a contemporary key, the Salone expands its activities by hosting cultural events, concerts, film reviews, conferences and book presentations.
Designer Michele de Lucchi transformed the place into several theaters three levels and equipped with three rooms that can be used simultaneously. The renovation of the theater will be followed by the recovery of the adjacent Caimi Bathing Center, built in the 1930s as a multifunctional space. The redevelopment of the complex and its rebirth as “Bagni Misteriosi “ has returned a monumental asset to Milan, transforming the spaces of the swimming pool, now suitable for bathing again, into an evocative setting for shows, concerts and various types of events. .
You enjoy a guided tour of the Theater followed by an aperitif and a show is a unique opportunity to enter this historic Milanese structure. Thanks to the visit exclusively for Milanoguida, it will be possible to walk through the spaces designed by de Lucchi and stroll by the magical swimming pool of the Bagni Misteriosi.
ON STAGE NOW

Italian born Anna Galiena started her carrier with acting classes in New York, including the famous  Elia Kazan Actor Studio, while on stage she played Giuliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo e Giulietta and Nina in The Seagull by Cechov
Back to Europe, she performed in Italian, Spanish, French  hit movies, gaining great  success, and becoming a very popular star.
For her return to the theatre, the actress stages great moments from the classics ten characters who interact and converse with each other, bringing the dualism of the human being to the stage and allowing the viewer to take part in a path of exploration of this dualism. The title of the play is Couples and Doubles, where the actress revisits, adapts and interprets some of the playwright’s most representative dialogues, giving life to ten characters who, by interacting with each other, bring the dualism of the human being to the stage.
The texts translated and adapted by the actress are taken from Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Othello, from the most passionate passages to the most violent ones, from irony to the infinite variations of sentiment, to express the double of theater and life and to symbolically mark the passage from classical theater to the Elizabethan one – the men with and against men.
«The theatre, says Anna, remains my home. As much as I have always loved cinema, there is one big difference: the theater belongs to the actors, in the sense that they are ultimately responsible for it in front of the public. Cinema, on the other hand, belongs to directors». The show boasts her own translation and adaptation, aiming to conceive and create an immersion in the luxuriant world of Shakespearean passions, where everything mixes, as in life: love, of course, but also jealousy , deceit, betrayal, desire, guilt, in an almost inexhaustible game of references and variations.

Tragic, light, cynical heroics follow one another in the infinite variations of sentiment to express even the double of theater and life. 12 characters who interact with each other bring the dualism of the human being to the stage. The scenes are taken from Richard  III,  Romeo and Juliet , Macbeth, Hamlet, A midsummer night’s dream, Othello
The stage is really essential four cubes around which Galiena moves. Excellent lighting.
If I may say my personal opinion, I found the lack of  any kind of note or warning illustrating the next scene or the next dialogue, I guess the audience perhaps manages to catch the duet between Romeo and Juliet both waiting for the song of the lark, of coursethe Hamlet “to be or not to be” and perhaps a reference to a midsummer night’s dream.
I think that few world on a screen or a voice-over explaining from which play that moment is from and what is going on, could help the audience
.Anna shows off her extraordinary personality among grit, tenderness and intimacy with an amazing memory of the lines.
Brava!

Teatro Parenti , Milano till April 6th
to buy tickets  Click here

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