All the Verdis of Venice

Ian C. Nelson is the former Assistant Director of Libraries (Collection
Management & Budget) at the University of Saskatchewan and Dramaturge
for the Festival de la Dramaturgie des Prairies.

Normand Chaurette’s new play explores operatic idolatry in the realms
of passion and politics. The passion is that of Verdi for the soprano
Teresa Stolz. The politics supply the premise of the intrigue: an opera
(Don Carlos) has been commissioned by Minister Penco to celebrate the
signing of an Italian treaty, and Mariani, the director of La Scala, is
forced into keeping Verdi in the opera house overnight to ensure that it
is completed in time. Both intrigues are swirled into the mists of
Venice’s carnival (where many revellers choose to disguise themselves
as the celebrated Verdi or La Stolz) and the preparation of yet another
Verdi opera, Aida. (The original French title of this play is Je vous
écris du Caire.) Disguises and sharp about-turns in the plot cleverly
pastiche the operatic genre.

Although All the Verdis of Venice probably stands on its own two feet
with enough information conveyed in the dialogue, it will be of
particular interest to those steeped in Verdi lore. One can easily
imagine guests of Saturday Afternoon at the Opera deciphering the
minutiae of each reference and debating the historical and psychological
accuracy of the portraits. Chaurette, author of the brilliant and
disturbing Provincetown Playhouse, July 1919, continues to be one of the
most intriguing playwrights of his generation.