Tradurre (e interpretare) Alcesti. La versione di Massimiliano Civica – Giovanna Di Martino – Stratagemmi 32

The study examines the screenplay used by Massimiliano Civica in his Alcestis, which happens to be his own translation of the Greek tragedy. My purpose in this article, which is divided into three main sections, is to highlight the numerous literary and theatrical expedients that the author employs to make this ancient play ‘live’, or better, in Walter Benjamin’s words, ‘survive’ today. I first tackle the ‘radiant words’, to use an expression taken from Peter Brook, stressed by Civica throughout the play: the concept of ‘exchange’; the concept of ‘friendship’; and the concepts expressed by the Greek verb προδίδωμι, which can mean either ‘to abandon’ or ‘to betray’. In the second section, I show how Civica took advantage of all the ‘comic’ possibilities of the Greek play and re-worked them in an original way. In the third and last section, I discuss Civica’s main interpretation of the play, which is that ‘death’ can be overcome only by choosing to live with/for someone else.