Crisis of Europe Staged at Spoleto's Festival dei Due Mondi

At the 62nd Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, two theatrical pieces explore Europe's social crisis through memory, egotism, and cruelty. Marisa Berenson stars in "Berlin Kabarett," directed by Stéphan Druet, set in late-Weimar Berlin. She plays Kirsten, a cabaret director navigating the city's febrile atmosphere of jazz, swing, and looming Nazism. The piece, blending theater, song, and circus, reflects the contradictions of a society on the brink. Adriana Asti performs in "Gli incolpevoli" (The Guiltless), a sentimental drama by Hermann Broch (1949). Asti plays Zerlina, a maid in a nameless German noble household, whose past rivalry with a baroness over the mysterious Von Juna reveals themes of personal gratification and social decay. Lucinda Childs portrays Mr. A., the silent listener who may be Von Juna in disguise. The play, set in postwar Europe, evokes Edward Hopper's existential angst. Both productions received deserved applause for their artistic and civic value. The festival runs in Spoleto, Italy.