With “Re chicchinella” by Emma Dante, the Spring of Comedians moved to the obstructed side of farce

Librement inspiré du poète et écrivain Giambattista Basile, “Re chicchinella” conte les mésaventures d’un roi qui pond des œufs d’or. Masiar Pasquali – Masiar Pasquali

Inspired by the "Tale of Tales" by the 16th century Italian writer Giambattista Basile, the new creation of the Palermitan playwright Emma Dante, "Re chicchinella", is a grotesque farce, very physical in its form, very political in its content. The funniest show of the Spring of Comedians 2024 ?

After La scortecata and Pupo di zucchero, the Palermitan playwright Emma Dante completes his trilogy inspired by the Tale of tales by the 16th century Neapolitan writer Giambattista Basile with Re chicchinella,to see again this Wednesday, June 19 in Montpellier as part of the 38th Spring of Comedians, in Montpellier. To see ? Let's be more precise: not to be missed under any circumstances! As brilliant as it is hilarious, this grotesque farce reveals a delightful graphic audacity and a salutary nastiness!

A chicken in the foundation

Now then, let's begin since it’s a tale, even if it is disguised in the Neapolitan dialect, with the beginning : once upon a time, just one time, one too many for the king Charles III of Anjou, king of Sicily and Naples, prince of Giuglina, count of Orléans and Maràns, viscount of Avignon and Forcalquier, prince of Portici Bellavita, king of Albania, prince of Valencia and titular king of Constantinople (note the absence of Montpellier… How should we take it ?).

One day when our cumulative majesty was quietly genociding forest game, she felt the urgent need to "unload her belly" . As soon as he was relieved, in the absence of any cloth to wipe himself with, the king set his sights on a hen with soft and silky feathers which was lying there, obviously dead. Weary! Very alive, the gallinaceous clings to the royal seat, before planting itself deeper and settling, oh, in its bowels…

A stupid and greedy (lower) court

When Re chicchinella ("The Hen King" in the language of the gang in Giambattista Bassile) begins, we are there: the king has been blown away, and he appreciates it average. After a short prologue which set the crazy atmosphere, the king emerges, shirtless, in a black dress with octopus undulations. When the bird is squatting, its motor skills are clumsy, erratic, twisted, but when it wakes up, it is constant torture. If that was all it was…hellip;

The "valiant king", as these two servile idiots call him, must also (in vain) struggle with the horrifying assembly of his courtiers. Men, women, all wear a tiara on their head, a dazed look, a beaded bra, low-cut panties and beige tights which highlight their plump buttocks and their hypertrophied thighs (the costumes are also by Emma Dante) and make them look like steroid chickens! Moreover, this (lower) court cackles with incontinence and waddles with the same total absence of grace as these gallinaceans rendered feeble by the lack of physical exercise and intellectual effort. ;nbsp;Their dance makes you cry with laughter! For us. Not for the king who would crush them if only he could.

The thirst for gold and its indigestion

His detestable wife, as dry as a blow from a stick, and his infectious daughter, as luscious as a golden brioche, are hardly better, who harass him with their counterfeit and interested solicitude. "You have only to die !", the first one lets go when he makes her by his constant pain and his permanent exhaustion. "It is not so easy", he answers. It's been thirteen days since he's swallowed anything, too painful, and although he ingests, only his intruder benefits from it… and a little later, his relatives: fed, the hen lays a golden egg!

So his court joins forces to convince him to return to the table, and thus pluck him a little more. His method: to shove the lamp under his nose until he cracks. (absurd) tea ceremony. Tasting (spluttering) of biscuits. (Rabelaisian) devouring of spaghetti. This Grande bouffe style sequence is a new piece of bravura, half-choreographic, half-clownesque, absolutely hilarious. The audience is doubled over with laughter, the king is in pain. He yields. For an olive and a rusk. Enough to require an august defecation shortly after. "Klong !" makes the royal production by tapping the earthenware.

The thirst for gold maddens some, despairing others who, cornered by being overweight for too long, have none ;there's no other word, full ass! We won't tell you anything about the consequences of his decision to rid himself of his pathogen once and for all, and not great. Know that this will still be the occasion for Emma-Dantesque visions, in other words sublime and twisted, cruel and funny, dark and brilliant. Clear (and farcical!) apologue on greed and selfishness defended by a troop with total physical commitment, Re cicchinella&amp ;nbsp;takes scatology to the level of major political art, and aviphilia at full speed. Honestly, it’s boring!