Cinzia Spanò’s ‘Dentro la tela’ Reimagines Artemisia Gentileschi at Milan’s Teatro Elfo Puccini

Cinzia Spanò’s latest performance, ‘Dentro la tela – Indagini su Artemisia,’ is the third chapter of a trilogy exploring gender violence, injustice, and media manipulation through the lens of Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi. Running until May 31 at Milan’s Teatro Elfo Puccini, the show reframes Gentileschi’s 1620 painting ‘Judith Beheading Holofernes’—often seen as a symbolic revenge against her rapist Agostino Tassi—by shifting focus to the maidservant, a marginal figure who becomes central as a moral choice. The protagonist, Mara Landolfi (played by Mara Landolfi), is a cynical TV consultant who manipulates public opinion to whitewash men accused of violence. Her world unravels when a man from her past appears, linked to an attack on someone close to her. Directed by Spanò with actor direction by Emiliano Brioschi, the production uses minimal staging and lighting to convey the protagonist’s emotional breakdown, arguing that no one—not even the perpetrators—can escape the systems of violence they sustain.