Chiara Lagani and Luigi De Angelis stage 'L'amore segreto di Ofelia' at Verona's Teatro Romano

Chiara Lagani and Luigi De Angelis presented 'L'amore segreto di Ofelia' at the Teatro Romano in Verona in 2020. The performance, based on a text by Steven Berkoff, explores the distance between actor and character, character and character, and actor and audience. Lagani wrote the dramaturgy, while De Angelis directed. The show features actors Chiara Francini and Andrea Argentieri, who appear first on screens simulating a table reading, then live, reading Berkoff's epistolary text. The production uses video projections of nature, reminiscent of National Geographic documentaries, and employs a mise en espace or reading format with microphones used scenically. The work expands on the duo's previous projects on David Bowie and Primo Levi, creating cognitive dissonances and betraying audience expectations. The lockdown-inspired piece translates isolation into a remote table reading, incorporating post-production video art references to David LaChapelle and Luigi Ontani. The performance includes chromatic explosions, excessive floral imagery, and a raw eroticism that contrasts with the characters' pseudo-romantic verses. The piece ends with Francini saying 'Applause' at the peak of an emotional climax, breaking theatrical ritual.