''Emergency Exit'' (1978) is a two-act play by written originally in Italian as ''Uscita d'emergenza''. It was Santanelli's first production in 1980 and made him famous as a playwright.

Synopsis

Two squatters share an abandoned house in Naples. They are both unemployed, previously Cirillo had been a theatre prompter and Pacebbene was a

sacristan A sacristan is an officer charged with care of the sacristy, the church, and their contents. In ancient times, many duties of the sacrist were performed by the doorkeepers ( ostiarii), and later by the treasurers and mansionarii. The Decretals ...

. The house is in an area deserted after an earthquake and about to collapse.

Productions

''Emergency Exit'' was first produced at the

Teatro San Ferdinando Teatro San Ferdinando is a theatre in Naples, Italy. It is named after King Ferdinand I of Naples. Located near Ponte Nuovo, it is to the southeast of the Teatro Totò in the western part of the neighborhood of Arenaccia. Built in the late eight ...

in 1980, featuring Nello Mascia and

Bruno Cirino Bruno Cirino (25 October 1936 – 17 April 1981) was an Italian actor and stage director. Life and career Born Bruno Cirino Pomicino in Naples, Cirino abandoned his studies in law to enroll the Silvio d’Amico Academy of Dramatic Arts in Rome ...

. The play was performed in November 2013 at the

Piccolo Bellini The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

theatre in Naples, with Rino Di Martino and Ernesto Mahieux playing the two roles.

Response

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...

commented that "Santanelli's work is some of the finest I've seen in years. It is, indeed, extraordinary, intended for audiences who hunger for the rare and the beautiful." ''The International Daily'' stated that "in terms of Italian dramaturgy, ''Emergency Exit'' could be as much of an influence as Pinter's ''The Caretaker'' was in Britain" and '' La Repubblica'' viewed it as "a meeting of two exacting theatrical traditions: the grand Neapolitan revival of the commedia dell'arte... and modern-day Europe's cutting-edge, existentialist theater of the grotesque". The play won awards from the Istituto del Dramma Italiano (IDI) and Associazione Nazionale dei Critici Italiani (ANCI) in Italy.

Editions

*Translated from Italian by

Anthony Molino Anthony Molino (born 1957) is a translator, anthropologist, and psychoanalyst. Life He has received a Fulbright scholarship to the University of Florence. His work appeared in ''Two Lines''. He lives in Philadelphia.http://www.holmesandmeier.co ...

, with Jane House. Grand Terrace, California:

Xenos Books Xenos Books is a publishing company in Riverside, California that was founded in 1985 by Karl Kvitko and Verona Weiss. The company is known for publishing bilingual books, and modern American and foreign writers in translation. Titles published ...

. (paper), xiii + 119 p. ith cover art by Harvey Fry.">Harvey_Fry.html" ;"title="ith cover art by Harvey Fry">ith cover art by Harvey Fry.

References

{{Squatting Italian plays Naples in fiction Squatting in Italy