Ionesco's 'The Chairs' Returns to Stage in Turin

Valerio Binasco directs a double bill at Teatro Stabile di Torino, featuring Pirandello's 'Il piacere dell'onestà' and Ionesco's 'The Chairs' at Fonderie Limone Moncalieri. The production marks a return to live theater after months of closure. The set by Nicolas Bovey features three chairs in a dilapidated room with a window overlooking sea and sky, evoking Ionesco's 1952 lighthouse-house. Performers Federica Fracassi and Michele Di Mauro play the centenarian couple, Semiramide and the Maresciallo d'Alloggio. Binasco incorporates Beckettian elements, using lighting to gradually illuminate the audience and introducing a spotlight that reveals the Orator as a real actor. The play explores themes of virtual communication, theatrical space, and human isolation. The couple's final suicide is staged as they climb onto a chair at the window and fall. The production includes French and popular songs, electric guitar sounds, and detailed lighting design.