Pier Lorenzo Pisano's 'Per il tuo bene' Explores Family Dynamics

In 'Per il tuo bene', 28-year-old Neapolitan playwright and director Pier Lorenzo Pisano presents a fresh and incisive look at family relationships. The play, produced by Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione, is staged at Teatro Storchi in Modena and Arena del Sole in Bologna. Characters introduce themselves by their familial roles: a mother, a son, a grandmother, a nephew, an uncle, a girl, a stranger. The absent father, around whom the entire narrative revolves, is revealed to be ill. This prompts the mother to ask her eldest son, who has moved away to study, to return home. The play explores the tragicomic mechanisms that resurface when the family reunites: recriminations, guilt, cynicism, sharp remarks, and unexpressed affections. Pisano's direction uses a cinematic set design by Giulia Carnevali, with mobile walls that act like camera shutters and a tilting table that transforms into a dining table, bench, or hospital bed. The cast includes Laura Mazzi, Edoardo Sorgente, Alessandro Bay Rossi, Marco Cacciola, and Marina Occhionero. The ending remains open, with the younger brother and the girl questioning their future together.