La Vita Che Ti Diedi

La vita che ti diedi ("The Life I Gave You") is a play by Italian playwright Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936)[1].

The original text

Inspired by his novels The Waiting Room (1916) and The Pensioners of Memory (1914), and originally written for Eleonora Duse (who never performed it) in January and February 1923, was first performed at the Teatro Quirino in Rome on 12 October 1923, starring Alda Borelli (1879-1964)[2]. The text published in 1924 by Bemporad.

The opera, conceived for Eleonora Duse, was never performed by the actress. It was presented to the public again in 1942 starring Paola Borboni.

The central theme of the comedy is maternal love capable of simply nourishing itself on the memory, without the physical presence, of a son who has remained away from his mother for seven years. The dialogue is woven around this unconditional love, with the other characters acting as a Greek style chorus to express their judgment on the maternal feelings.

Translations and adaptations

The central theme of the comedy is maternal love capable of simply nourishing itself on the memory, without the physical presence, of a son who has remained away from his mother for seven years.

Translated into English as The Life I Gave You. Text published by Penguin in 1959.

Translated into Afrikaans by Con de Villiers as Die Lewe wat ek jou Gegee het. (Also found as Die Lewe wat ek jou Geskenk het.)

The De Villiers translation adapted for radio by Fred Engelen, and broadcast by the SABC in its Afrikaans programme Meester drama ("Master Drama") on 11 December, 1964

Performance history in South Africa

1964: Performed in Afrikaans as Die Lewe wat ek jou Gegee het by PACT in the National Theatre in Pretoria, the Library Theatre in Johannesburg and taken on tour in the Transvaal. It was directed by Victor Melleney and the cast included Anna Neethling-Pohl (Donn'Anna), Kita Redelinghuys (Lucia), Francois Swart (Don Giorgio), Wena Naudé (Donna Fiorina), Leonora Nel (Elisabetta), James Norval (Giovanni), Salomi Louw (Lida), Roelf Laubscher (Flavio), Elsa Fouche (Francesca) and the women played by Anna Cloete, Frances Coertze, Mariekie Drotske, Mathilde Hanekom, Paddy Norval and Marga van Rooy. Décor by Raimond Schoop, costumes by Margaret Louttit. At one point Pieter Hauptfleisch joined the touring company to replace an indisposed actor.

1964: Performed in Afrikaans as Die Lewe wat ek jou Gegee het by the Universiteitsteater Stellenbosch, directed by Fred Engelen, assisted by Annatjie Vorster, for the Universiteitsteater Stellenbosch in the Botha Hall in Stellenbosch, in September, during the Stellenbosch Arts Festival. Members of the cast were Anna Neethling-Pohl (Donn'Anna), Tine Balder (Lucia), Ben Verwey (Don Giorgio), Marie van Heerden (Donna Fiorina), Antoinette Terblanche (Lida), Franz Marx (Flavio), Madelein Viljoen (Francesca), Gertie Smith-Visser (Elisabetta), Willem de la Guerre (Giovanni), Woutrine Theron et al. Décor by Fred Engelen and Willem de la Guerre, Costumes by Elise Ziervogel. After the Stellenbosch run, the production was staged in the Hofmeyr Theatre in Cape Town.

Sources

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_vita_che_ti_diedi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Pirandello

https://www.pirandellonazionale.it/opera/la-vita-che-ti-diedi/

PACT report 1963/64.

PACT theatre programme, 1964.

UTS theatre programme, 1964.

Petru & Carel Trichardt theatre programme collection.

Copy of the Engelen radio text, found in the radio archives of the Stellenbosch Drama Department

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