June 4, 2016
The Mistress of the Inn
Carlo Goldoni
A performance in two acts
The performance is based on Carlo Goldoni’s play The Mistress of the Inn (La locandiera).
Florence. A small inn run by the charming, intelligent and independent Mirandolina becomes the setting for a witty battle of pride, titles, money and feelings.
Two guests are in love with the innkeeper: a poor but proud Marquis and a wealthy, generous Count. Each of them is convinced that his own way of winning a woman’s heart is the right one: one offers protection, the other expensive gifts. But Mirandolina knows perfectly well the true value of both.
What especially provokes her is a third guest — the Cavaliere di Ripafratta, a sworn enemy of women: rude, self-assured and absolutely convinced of his own independence. For Mirandolina he is no longer just a difficult guest, but a challenge. She decides to prove that even the most unyielding opponent of love can lose his head when he meets a woman who can be tender, ironic, practical and dangerously charming all at once.
The Mistress of the Inn is a light, elegant and witty comedy about female intelligence, male vanity, freedom, jealousy and the eternal game between those who believe they control their feelings — and those who, in fact, control the whole situation.
Photos from the performance
