Printed
40 pages
Author(s)
Macbeth all'improvviso
Macbeth all'improvviso, a puppet show freely based on William Shakespeare's Macbeth, is the most successful production by Gigio Brunello. Conceived with Gyula Molnàr, who directed it in 2002, the show won both the National Theatre Critics' Award in 2002 and the Golden Siren Award at the Festival Internazionale dei Burattini e delle Figure Arrivano dal Mare!. Macbeth all'improvviso is a complex dramatic construction that echoes Pirandello's theatre within the theatre in Six Characters in search of an Author. In Brunello's text, the puppets break free from their stereotyped roles and seem to become the protagonists of the events by their own will.
In Italy, this play is still considered a fundamental step in the renewal of traditional glove puppet theatre.
Glove puppets revolt against the puppeteer
The puppeteer apologises to the audience because he is not ready to perform Macbeth: instead, he will perform an unpublished comedy by Goldoni, The Jealous Emigrant (which is, in fact, a fake written on purpose by Brunello). But one of his glove puppets, Arlequin, disagrees and organises a rebellion, convincing the other puppets to perform Macbeth. The tragedy begins, but Arlequin, who has dared to step out of his role, must die like Macbeth. The same applies to his antagonist King Duncan, who - as we discover at the end - is no other than the puppeteer himself.
First performance
Publications and translations
Gigio Brunello, Gyula Molnàr, Macbeth all’improvviso. Reggio Emilia: Edizioni Junior, 2003
Gigio Brunello, Tragedie e commedie per tavoli e baracche. Vittorio Veneto: De Bastiani Editore, 2018