But what kind of Othello?

by Lia Celi
with Marina Massironi
music for harp arranged and performed live by Monica Micheli
directed by Massimo Navone
produced by Nidodiragno CMC

If Shakespeare tells us Othello, it is a tragedy; if Verdi tells it, it is a melodrama.

But when the narration of the dark story of the Moor is entrusted to a lively author – and passionate opera lover – like Lia Celi, the result is an unexpected rereading of the history of Verdi's enterprise, the rules of melodrama, and the themes dear to Shakespearean tragedy: jealousy, racism, plagiarism, slander.

The rewriting game offers a fresh female perspective on the heroines of melodrama and opens up amusing and bitter short circuits with current events.

Marina Massironi brings the audience back to the genesis of Verdi's masterpiece with curious historical insights, current events, and reflections on the human dynamics epitomized by the Othello-Iago-Desdemona triangle. She does so with subtle, unsettling humor and moments of tragic passion. All accompanied by the crystalline timbre of Monica Micheli's harp.