From the January 15th to 25th at the Ridotto del Mercadante the show makes its national debut
Bitter Sugar
text and direction Fortunato Calvino
with Antonella Cioli, Rosaria De Cicco, Stella Cerciello, Fabiana Fazio, and Eleonora Flauto
production Naples Theatre – National Theatre
Fortunato Calvino brings to the stage of the Ridotto del Mercadante from 15th to 25th January, an absolute novelty of which he is also the author, Bitter sugar, a grotesque and tender black comedy, set within the walls of a house that is, at the same time, a refuge and a trap.
Notes on the text by Fortunato Calvino
The story is set in a highly connoted urban context, that of the Spanish Quarters of Naples, depicted as a closed microcosm, governed by unwritten laws and dominated by the oppressive presence of the Camorra. The main stage space—the two sisters' home—takes on symbolic value: it is a refuge, a boundary, and the last bastion against a violent and predatory outside world. Gina and Laura embody two opposing ways of reacting to reality: Gina, deeply religious, protects herself through an archaic, almost magical faith, which transforms the house into a sanctuary of sacred symbols and rituals. Laura, more extroverted and seemingly modern, lives by sentimental illusions, taking refuge in the dream of an ideal love that never materialized. Both, despite their differences, are helpless and suspended figures, searching for a balance that external reality denies them. The conflict erupts with the arrival of the neighborhood's three women, members of the criminal underworld, who embody a normalized, brutal, and everyday violence. Their interest in Gina's apartment transforms a latent threat into a concrete siege. The text is a grotesque and tender black comedy. The aggressive language, the gangsters' excessive behavior, and the two sisters' "inappropriate" reactions generate a bitter comedy that doesn't diminish the drama but rather makes it more incisive. Faith and illusion are survival strategies; female resistance, manifested in unexpected and unconventional ways—Gina's archaic spirituality and Laura's need for love—becomes key to their response. It's not physical strength that saves them, but the ability to transform fragility into a resource, countering the arrogance of power with a resistance built on cunning, identity, and family ties. A contradictory Naples, ancient and modern, where survival depends on the invention of new balances.
BITTER SUGAR
text and direction by Fortunato Calvino
with Antonella Cioli, Rosaria De Cicco, Stella Cerciello, Fabiana Fazio, Eleonora Flauto
scenes edited by Arianna Acanphora, Marianna Antonelli, Horace Di Maio, Simona La Monica, Marco La Rocca, Gelsomina Marino, Stefania Palumbo, Arianna Sica – School of Scenography of the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples of the Professor Tonino di Ronza
costumes Annamaria Morelli
music Paul Coletta
lighting design Carmine Pierri
assistant director Pina Strazzullo
stage director Domenico Riso
light giver Desideria Angeloni
sound engineer Guido Marziale
seamstress Daniela Guida
production Naples Theatre – National Theatre
Performance calendar
15/01/2026 21:00
16/01/2026 18:00
17/01/2026 17:00
18/01/2026 21:30
20/01/2026 21:00
21/01/2026 18:00
22/01/2026 21:00
23/01/2026 18:00
24/01/2026 17:00
25/01/2026 21:00
Info www. teatrodinapoli.it
Articolo tratto da https://www.arcigaynapoli.org/2026/01/13/al-ridotto-del-mercadante-debutta-zucchero-amaro-la-nuova-black-comedy-di-fortunato-calvino/
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