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Natale in casa Cupiello

Natale in casa Cupiello (Christmas at the Cupiello House) is a tragicomic play written by Eduardo De Filippo in 1931. It is one of the Neapolitan playwright's best-known play, and it is considered one of his most brilliant works. .

Genesis of the work
It was staged for the first time at the Teatro Kursaal in Naples (called Cinema Filangieri), on the 25th of December 1931. Natale in casa Cupiello represents the start of the Compagnia del "Teatro Umoristico I De Filippo" experience. It was composed by the three brothers, who will become famous actors (Agostino Salvietti, Pietro Carloni, Tina Pica, Dolores Palumbo, Luigi De Martino, Alfredo Crispo, Gennaro Pisano). Eduardo had signed a contract with the theatre producer in June, committing him for just nine days of performances to present his new one-act play immediatly after playing a film. The play was so successful that he extended the contract until the 21st of May 1932.

Initially, it was a one-act play (the one that, in its final version, is now the second act), later expanded in two distinct phases: the first, in 1932, saw the addition of the current first act, and the final, in 1934 (according to what Eduardo stated in issue 240 of the magazine Il Dramma published in 1936) or in 1937 or even in 1943 (according to a hypothesis later endorsed by the author himself ), which configured the play in its current version, composed of three acts. The complex genesis of the play led Eduardo himself to assert that it was born as a 'trigeminal birth with a four-year pregnancy'.

Synopsis
The scene set in Cupiello's family house in the bedroom (Acts I and III) and the dining room (Act II) and takes place in about five days.

Act I
It is two days before Christmas morning.

It is Christmas Eve morning. The man's tantrums afflicts the awakening and morning activities of Luca Cupiello and his wife Concetta, who complains about the cold and the terrible coffee she has prepared for him.

Luca, an enthusiastic lover of Christmas traditions, is anxious to maniacally concentrate on the composition of the Nativity scene, despite the criticism of his wife and son Tommasino (Nennillo), who consider it anachronistic.The presence of his brother Pasqualino, a choleric bachelor constantly at war with his nephew Nennillo (a certified thief defended by his parents), complicates his undertaking.

Luca also seems to have difficulty in his movements, in articulating sentences and in remembering things, tragicomic anticipations of the drama to come. The daughter Ninuccia bursts into the house, upset over yet another argument with her husband Nicolino; the girl confesses to her mother she wants to run away with her lover Vittorio, Nennillo's friend, and shows her the goodbye letter she wrote for her husband, whom she never loved. Faced with her mother's strong resistance Ninuccia has a breakdown and, in her impetus, smashes the nativity scene structure. In the resulting fight Concetta collapses. She then manages to get Ninuccia to promise to make peace with Nicolino; but in the turmoil the girl loses the letter, which will be found by Luca (unaware of the affair) and given by him to Nicolino, who has meanwhile come to the Cupiello family to reconcile with his wife.

Act II
Everything is ready for Christmas Eve in the Cupiello house. Tommasino arrives home with Vittorio, unaware he is his sister's lover. Once they are alone, Concetta asks Vittorio to leave immediately allowing Ninuccia to save her marriage to Nicolino: The latter in fact, after reading the letter innocently handed to him by his father-in-law, knew of their relationship and only Concetta's copious efforts prevented the worst. At that moment Luca returns and insists that Vittorio stay for dinner. The co-presence of the two rivals in love causes an hard background tension to descend on the evening, diluted by Luca, Nennillo and Pasqualino's bungling and the thousand misadventures that punctuate the preparation of the dinner. Enjoying a moment of loneliness, Ninuccia and Vittorio have a dramatic encounter that leads to the explosion of their passion; caught them kissing, Nicolino blames Ninuccia and Concetta for cheating him and challenges Vittorio to a duel. The two men then leave the house, followed by Ninuccia: while Concetta, left alone on stage, is desperate. Luca, Pasqualino and Tommasino arrive dressed as The Three Wise Men with their gifts for her.

Act III
Having suddenly learned of the family situation, Luke suffered a brain attack and found himself lying in bed with motor skills and verbal difficulties.

The whole neighbourhood is at his bedside, where Luca is experiencing delusions and hallucinations involving his son-in-law Nicolino, who has immediately left his wife and gone to see some relatives in Rome; even in delirium, Luca still hopes to see him and his daughter reconciled.

Then comes the doctor, who improvises an optimistic prognosis in front of the women, however, he reveals instead to Pasqualino the stark truth: Luca is dying. A sudden visit from Vittorio causes yet another hallucination on the part of Luca, who, mistaking him for Nicolino, comes to unknowingly bless the union of the two lovers just as her husband arrives, who is immediately restrained by force and taken out by those present. Luca Cupiello thus sets out to die, still unaware of reality; Tommasino, to his father's dying questions him, "Te piace 'o presepio?" (Do you like the Nativity?) to which he had previously always answered no with annoyed arrogance, whispers a laconic yes between tears, just as his father seems to enter into the joyous hallucination of an "enormous nativity scene in the heavens."

Characters

 * Luca Cupiello (named Lucariello): He is the main character of the play, the householder. He is a lower-middle-class gentleman with quiet and sometimes excessively pompous manners made temperamental and irascible due to his age (which he blames on his wife). He is very committed to family values and tradition and is enthusiastic about building his nativity scene, which he works hard at, ignoring the criticism of relatives. Although he is primarily a comic character, during the play we discover that he hides a illness, whose symptoms are shown in his difficulties with movement and speaking.
 * Concetta: she is Luca's wife. She is pragmatic and straightforward. Concetta is somewhat Luca's opposite. She stands his complaints and deals with all the difficulties of the family. In spite of the humorous component negativity is recognizable in her, as her husband. It is given by the pain of being the only one who knows about Ninuccia's sentimental vicissitudes; she is often overwhelmed by all these freightings, which will break her apparent strength and cause her emotional breakdowns.
 * Tommasino (named Nennillo): Luca and Concetta's second-born son, he personifies the character of the young slacker and lazy thief at odds with his family and seemingly unwilling to work and apt to procure money in any way. In act III, however, these characteristics will be completely reversed, and Nennillo will turn into a devoted son who will do anything to comfort his parents in their difficulties.
 * Ninuccia: Luca and Concetta's first daughter. The girl is in between an unhappy marriage (with Nicolino) and an impossible love (for Vittorio), and appears almost always discontented and melancholy, sometimes reaching furious reactions. Luca's statements portray Ninuccia as a dreamy girl full of desire for freedom, yet she always and still remains subservient to her family.
 * Nicolino: Ninuccia's husband, is a great merchant and enriched bourgeois. Nicolino appears elegant and refined, but he is actually rude, shabby, and in no way adequate to his social status. Moreover, he sees Ninuccia as his property, and while neglecting her and making her unhappy, he is incredibly jealous of her.
 * Vittorio: Ninuccia's lover. Vittorio is described as a mirror character to Nicolino: poorer, but really refined and elegant, he is long to stay with Ninuccia, which also drives him to irrational actions.
 * Pasqualino: Luca's brother and roommate, Pasqualino is a middle-aged bachelor with choleric and victimizing ways; he is a favorite target of Tommasino, who is actually particularly spiteful toward his uncle.

Film adaptation

 * Natale in Casa Cupiello, directed by Eduardo De Filippo, RAI, Italy, January 15, 1962, black and white, sound, 109 minutes. The actors of this version are Eduardo, Nina De Padova e Pietro De Vico. This film adaptation has some differences with the original script: the main one is that the doctor remains very ambiguous about Luca's fate, avoiding establishing the proximity of his death and rather stating that there might be possibilities of salvation.
 * Natale in Casa Cupiello, directed by Eduardo De Filippo, RAI - Istituto Luce, Italy, December 25, 1977, color, sound, 133 minutes.The actors are Eduardo himself, Luca De Filippo, Pupella Maggio, Gino Maringola, Lina Sastri, Luigi Uzzo, Marzio Onorato.
 * Natale in casa Cupiello, directed by Edoardo De Angelis, RAI-Picomedia, Italy, December 22, 2020, color, sound. The actors areSergio Castellitto, Marina Confalone, Adriano Pantaleo, Tony Laudadio, Pina Turco, Alessio Lapice e Antonio Milo. Tribute for the 120th anniversary of the playwright's birth..