Theatre Neapolitan Style introduces five one-act plays by Eduardo De Filippo to English-speaking readers and audiences for the first time. Both individually and collectively, these works bring into clear focus the atmosphere and environment of pre- and post-World War II Naples. At the same time they offer the reader/spectator startling glimpses into unforgettable lives and situations glimpses that record De Filippos favorite emblems with marvelous clarity: a Neapolitan setting; a Neapolitan family; a Neapolitan commedia figure.
We witness the playwrights uncanny ability to mix comic and tragic elements simultaneously as romantic courtship prevails despite poverty and infirmity in
Philosophically Speaking; a tired marriage and the temptation of youthful flirtation oppose each other in
Gennareniello; a government clerk happens upon the demolition of his childhood home in
So Long, Fifth Floor; an old actor fantasizes about performing a major role once again in
The Part of Hamlet; and a tired salesman learns that his room has been used for the laying out of his deceased landlord in
Dead People Aren't Scary.
De Filippos one-acts are a gift to theater scholars and practitioners alike. There are hidden blueprints to be discovered in these plays of character, of plot, and of theme that anticipate his longer and more celebrated works. The reaction of one American actor after performing in a staged reading of
Gennareniello applies to the others as well: 'The play reveals itself through many layers. It is an actors dream; the deeper meanings and suggestions flow out with each new encounter with the work.'
