Synopsis: | La Piccola Donne di Puccini (Puccini’s Little Women) is a play set in a piazza in Lucca, home town of Giacomo Puccini. It explores the relationships Puccini had with women in real life that are reflected in his operas.
The action revolves around the unveiling of a statue of Puccini that reacts to smell and comes to life. Simonetta, Puccini’s only recognised granddaughter instigates the ceremony, but is interrupted by Giulia, his last lover, heavily pregnant with Puccini’s child. The plays maps out Puccini’s early life with a doting mother, Mama Albina, his flight with Elvira, the wife of a friend and their subsequence relationship. The play depicts the scandal that shook Italian society, when Puccini’s nurse, Doria Manfredi committed suicide after years of bullying by Elvira.
The action of the play is punctuated by intrusions by Della Coffey and Irma Eyester, two American tourists, who are visiting Lucca. Irma’s romantic involvement with a Luccan man mimics aspects of Puccini’s romantic entanglements, while Irma falls in love with Puccini’s music.
The play shows the powerfulness of lies, censorship and the dichotomy between artistic greatness and human frailty.
|