On June 28, 2024, the theatre Il Circolo Empedocleo in Agrigento, Sicily, premiered new English surtitles for the Sicilian play “Tararà,” adapted by director Mario Gaziano from works by Nobel Prize-winning author Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936). The adaptation combines Pirandello’s novella “La verità” (1912) with elements from his plays “A birritta cu i ciancianeddi (Il berretto a sonagli) [Cap and Bells]” (1916) and “Il giuoco delle parti [The Rules of the Game]” (1918). The surtitles were funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Impact Acceleration Account and supported by the Society for Italian Studies in collaboration with Glasgow University as part of the project “Translating Pirandello in Agrigento: City of Culture (2025),” which I lead. Having co-produced the surtitles with Ruggero Bianchin, I was eager to find out how lead actor Giuseppe Gramaglia felt performing live alongside these new resources for the first time.
To start with, could you tell us about how you became an actor?
I’m retired now and theatre is my hobby, my passion. I’ve been acting for about 22 years in different theatre companies. In recent years, my focus has been on the works of Pirandello, as I am part of the Pirandello Stable Festival theatre company directed by Mario Gaziano here in Agrigento – Pirandello’s birthplace. Each season is dedicated to staging Pirandello’s plays, and this year we performed at the Circolo Empedocleo. We have such a huge following that it’s often hard to accommodate everyone in the theatre.
How did you come to be involved with the staging of “Tararà”?
I was invited to take part in “Tararà” by the director, Mario Gaziano. The first part of the play, translated into Sicilian, is based on the novella “La verità” and centers on the main character, Tararà, who murders his cheating wife not out of jealousy but because of the inexorable ‘eye of the people’ who see and know of her betrayal. He must, therefore, inexorably kill her, shouting in a conflicted and feverish manner: “Signor iudici iu ci vuliva beni” (‘Your Honour, I loved her’). The second part is based on “A birritta cu’ i ciancianeddi” (1916), a Sicilian version of “Il berretto a sonagli,” where Pirandello expands “La verità” by adding the character Ciampa, who explains the madness behind his murderous actions using Pirandello’s ‘philosophical-speculative method.’ The final part, translated from “Il giuoco delle parti” (1918), focuses on il perno (the pivot), an imaginary nail that distorts reality, reflecting Pirandello’s own explorations of art, form, appearance, and reality.
How did you feel having surtitles follow your live performance?
This was the first time I had ever worked with surtitles, and it was a very interesting addition to the performance. The surtitles certainly helped to welcome a wider audience, which I found beautiful. They are particularly advantageous for tourists who don’t understand Sicilian. Additionally, surtitles can help circulate Pirandello’s works abroad, conveying the essence of his theatre to international audiences. His theories about the mask and distinguishing reality from illusion are fascinating, though complex. Even in “Tararà,” the notion of living for the ‘eye of the people,’ being not who one is but who one believes oneself to be, is truly intriguing.
Did the use of surtitles cause you any problems? Did you identify any drawbacks?
What perplexed me was that actors are not machines and can never perform the same text in the same way each night. Actors add their own interpretation based on their feelings at the moment, which can affect synchronization with the surtitles. Despite this, the performance was understood perfectly. I found it astonishing that the surtitles, maneuvered manually rather than via special software, were in sync with the actors’ interpretations.
Finally, the play was in the Sicilian dialect. Could you say more about the artistic choice to perform in this language?
Learning that UNESCO classifies Sicilian as a ‘vulnerable language’ made me realize the importance of our work in Sicilian in two ways. Firstly, it’s crucial to convey Sicilian plays to international audiences via surtitles. Secondly, it’s essential to preserve our language for future generations. In Sicily, we often correct children who speak in Sicilian, pushing them to speak “correctly” in Italian. We need to find a balance between Sicilian and Italian. Performing this piece in Sicilian was also a way to help our younger generations retain their linguistic heritage and prevent our dialect from disappearing, like so many others around Italy.