Educazione sentimentale

Educazione sentimentale is a one-act play centred on Daniele Canonico, a fifty-year-old man from Southern Italy, who recounts his life story directly to the audience. An ordinary man, he narrates his own personal coming-of-age.

From childhood onward, his entry into the “world of men” proves to be a difficult path, strewn with obstacles, traps, trials, and relentless, exhausting tests of virility. As he retraces the stages of his life – first at school, then in the workplace – a vivid and engaging monologue outlines the journey of a child, then a boy, and finally a man, called upon to prove to the world his ability to be male.

It is a kind of human comedy, in which Daniele revisits everything he has been through: the need to find a little girlfriend in primary school; the code of honour, the defence of the reputation of the women in his family; puberty and the comparison of bodies with friends; the expectation of having a woman who respects you.

Until Daniele, now an adult – married, with a teenage daughter – must face the trials of maturity.

It is here that the tone shifts, offering a reversed perspective on how this sentimental education has condemned him to incomprehension. Yet Daniele himself does not know this. At best, he senses it; but in his tears of bewilderment over what he has made of his life, he finds no answers.

‍

“I conceived Educazione sentimentale as an entertaining piece that only in its final ten minutes reveals its true nature: an indictment of a gendered social upbringing that never aims at respecting women as subjects. It is the tragedy of a ridiculous man – like many others – and, like many, capable of actions he cannot control.

For this project, I wanted an actor who was not only superb, but also capable of deep empathy with the audience. So I asked Giuseppe Fiorello to join me on a theatrical journey that, in this moment in history, feels to me both necessary and urgent.”
Ivan Cotroneo