Il teatro dell’ardore e del disincanto: l’eredità di Amleto

“The play’s the thing,” says Hamlet, “wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king”. The intent is to show the spectators to the twisted labyrinth of truth, the one however that cannot be openly declared without tragically risking your own life. The actors’ play, as it is conceived by Hamlet, becomes the tool for trap the king of Denmark, Claudius, who had killed his brother Hamlet and usurped the young princess Hamlet’s throne. It was the enchantment felt in whatching an actor play that convinced Hamlet he could have managed to get his revenge thanks to a skilled comedian who’s art is to tell the truth with the inventio! Hamlet's reception in European culture has firmly enlightened an “hamletism” that emerges in different dramatic forms and contexts. They often evokes convergences with the more introspective scenes of Shakespeare’s play or with those ones that show political tensions. For instance in Giuseppe Fava’s (1925-1984) plays hamletism clearly emerges as an attempt to wake up the consciences of the indolents, and report the abuses of mafia. In 1984 Fava was killed by Mafia outside the National Theatre in Catania.