Filumena

Filumena (Filumena Marturano)(1946) is Eduardo de Filippo’s (1900-1984) best-known work and arguably his finest comedy-drama, drenched in Neapolitan atmosphere and full of entanglements at once cynical and romantic. In the heat of late-1940s Naples, Filumena Maraturano lies on her deathbed awaiting her marriage to Domenico Soriano, the man who has kept her as his mistress for twenty-seven years. But no sooner has the priest completed the ceremony than Filumena makes a miraculous recovery. As he reels in shock, Domenico discovers that this brilliant, iron-willed woman has a few more surprises for him.

Presented by PACT in the State Theatre, October 1981, directed by Francois Swart, starring Gordon Mulholland, Wilna Snyman.

Translated into Afrikaans from the English text by Herman Pretorius as Filumena or 'n Moeder bly 'n Moeder! and presented by Universiteitsteater Stellenbosch in the H.B. Thom Theatre in September 1982, directed by Ria Olivier, with Maria van der Linde (Filumena), Elzette Pretorius (Rosalia), Herman Pretorius (Domenico), Neels Engelbrecht (Alfredo), Ilzabeth Uys (Diana), Tossie van den Heever (Lucia), Johan Rademan (Umberto), Albert Maritz (Riccardo), Anton Smith (Michele), Noël Roos (Nocella), Karen Usmar-Blake (Teresina), Johann van Heerden (Hoofkelner) and Freddie Aylward (Kelner).

Sources

http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/filumena-iid-14895

UTS theatre programme, September 1982.

Return to F in Plays 1 Original SA Plays

Return to F in Plays 2 Foreign Plays

Return to South_African_Theatre/Plays

Return to Main Page