''Filumena Marturano'' (, ), sometime performed in English as ''The Best House in Naples'', is a play written in 1946 by Italian playwright, actor and poet

Eduardo De Filippo Eduardo De Filippo (; 24 May 1900 – 31 October 1984), also known simply as ''Eduardo'', was an Italian actor, director, screenwriter and playwright, best known for his Neapolitan works ''Filumena Marturano'' and '' Napoli Milionaria''. Consid ...

. It is the basis for the 1950 Spanish language Argentine musical film ''

Filomena Marturano ''Filomena Marturano'' is a 1950 Spanish language Argentine musical film. It is based on the theatrical piece ''Filumena Marturano'' by the Neapolitan actor and author Eduardo De Filippo, which had been previously performed in Argentina wi ...

'', multiple Italian adaptations under its original title, and the 1964 film ''

Marriage Italian Style ''Marriage Italian Style'' ( it, Matrimonio all'italiana ) is a 1964 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica, starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni. The film was adapted by Leonardo Benvenuti, Renato Castellani, Piero ...

''.

Plot

The curtain opens on Domenico Soriano, 50, a wealthy Neapolitan shop-keeper who is raging against Filumena, 48, a former prostitute. They lived together for 26 years (but with his frequently having trysts with other women) and she has tricked him, pretending to be near death, and persuading him to marry her ''in extremis''. Domenico, however, would rather marry Diana, a young girl, who is already in the house pretending to be a nurse. Filumena reveals the real reason for the marriage to Domenico: She wants to create a family for her three children (Umberto, Michele and Riccardo) who have no idea of who their mother really is. Domenico is not going to allow this and asks his lawyer Nocella to annul the marriage. Filumena speaks to the young men telling them that she is their mother. Filumena accepts the defeat of the annulment, but tells Domenico that one of the three children is actually his. All attempts to find out who his son is fail, and Domenico, after 10 months, remarries Filumena accepting to be the father of all three. In the play, Filumena memorably tells Domenico that "children are children, and they're all equal" (''I figli sono figli e sono tutti uguali'').

Productions

Eduardo De Filippo, Filumena Marturano, Mestno gledališče v Ljubljani

''Filumena Marturano'' initially was written as a tribute to Eduardo's sister

Titina De Filippo Titina De Filippo (born Annunziata De Filippo; 27 March 1898 – 26 December 1963) was an Italian actress and playwright.Napoli milionaria'', which Eduardo had written and which had premiered the year before to general acclaim. The first night of the new play, proved a disappointment however, and received lukewarm notices from the Neapolitan theatre-going public. Titina decided to address this by following her own instincts and performing as she felt the role required. She was proved right. The play achieved great success, so great in fact that for many years afterwards Titina was called Filumena in Italy rather than her own. Thanks to an arrangement made by Carlo Trabucco, the editor of the daily Italian

Christian Democrat Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

newspaper '' Il Popolo'', an audience was arranged for the cast to meet

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

in a private audience in the Vatican. At the audience, the pope unexpectedly asked to hear one of the monologues, and Titina recited for him the prayer of Filumena to the Madonna of the Roses. Despite the strong connection between

Titina De Filippo Titina De Filippo (born Annunziata De Filippo; 27 March 1898 – 26 December 1963) was an Italian actress and playwright.Regina Bianchi Regina Bianchi (1 January 1921 – 5 April 2013) was an Italian stage and film actress. Life and career Born in Lecce as Regina D'Antigny, she was the daughter of two theater actors. Forced by the fascist phobia of foreign cultures to change he ...

, was able to achieve cult status as Filumena in subsequent years. In 1977, an English language translation by

Keith Waterhouse Keith Spencer Waterhouse (6 February 1929 – 4 September 2009) was a British novelist and newspaper columnist and the writer of many television series. Biography Keith Waterhouse was born in Hunslet, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. H ...

and

Willis Hall Willis Edward Hall (6 April 1929 – 7 March 2005) was an English playwright and radio, television and film writer who drew on his working-class roots in Leeds for much of his writing. Willis formed an extremely prolific partnership with h ...

undertook a production at the Lyric Theatre in London directed by

Franco Zeffirelli Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019), was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post-World War II era, ...

and starring

Colin Blakely Colin George Blakely (23 September 1930 – 7 May 1987) was a Northern Irish actor. He had roles in the films '' A Man for All Seasons'' (1966), ''The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes'' (1970), ''Murder on the Orient Express'' (1974), and '' Eq ...

and

Joan Plowright Joan Ann Olivier, Baroness Olivier, (née Plowright; born 28 October 1929), professionally known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English retired actress whose career has spanned over seven decades. She has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Ton ...

. This won The London Theatres Comedy of the year award in 1978. The production was taken to New York City where it opened on 10 February 1980 at the St. James Theatre on Broadway where it ran for 32 performances. Before the New York transfer, it had a run in Baltimore where it was directed by

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the Theatre of the U ...

(husband of Joan Plowright). The play was performed at the

Piccadilly Theatre The Piccadilly Theatre is a West End theatre located at 16 Denman Street, behind Piccadilly Circus and adjacent to the Regent Palace Hotel, in the City of Westminster, London, England. Early years Built by Bertie Crewe and Edward A. Stone ...

, London, opening on 30 September 1998 and running until 27 February 1999. It was directed by Peter Hall with

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...

in the title role.

Michael Pennington Michael Vivian Fyfe Pennington (born 7 June 1943) is a British actor, director and writer. Together with director Michael Bogdanov, he founded the English Shakespeare Company in 1986 and was its Joint Artistic Director until 1992. He has writ ...

played Domenico.

Film adaptations

In 1950,

directed ''

'', an Argentine, Spanish-language film of the play, in which he starred as Domenico alongside his sister Titina. They also co-starred in the 1951 Italian film ''Filumina Marturano'', again directed by De Filippo, although Ms. De Filippo received no screen credit. He also made a TV version in 1962, in which

Regina Bianchi Regina Bianchi (1 January 1921 – 5 April 2013) was an Italian stage and film actress. Life and career Born in Lecce as Regina D'Antigny, she was the daughter of two theater actors. Forced by the fascist phobia of foreign cultures to change he ...

played the title role. In 1964, another screen version was directed by

Vittorio De Sica Vittorio De Sica ( , ; 7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement. Four of the films he directed won Academy Awards: ''Sciuscià'' and ''Bicycle Thieves'' (honorary) ...

, titled ''Matrimonio all'italiana'' (''

''), starring

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood ci ...

and

Marcello Mastroianni Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni (28 September 1924 – 19 December 1996) was an Italian film actor, regarded as one of his country's most iconic male performers of the 20th century. He played leading roles for many of Italy's top di ...

. It was nominated for several international awards, winning the

Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a Golden Globe Award presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film coul ...

. In 2010 Italian television,

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

Uno, made a miniseries starring

Massimo Ranieri Massimo Ranieri (born Giovanni Calone on 3 May 1951) is an Italian singer, actor, television presenter and director. Biography Early life Ranieri was born in Naples ( at Santa Lucia), the fifth of eight children in the family. When he was 10, y ...

References

External links

* * *
The Theatre of Eduardo De Filippo
{{OlivierAward Comedy 1976–2000 1946 plays Broadway plays Comedy plays Plays by Eduardo De Filippo Italian plays adapted into films Laurence Olivier Award-winning plays West End plays

Plot

Productions

Film adaptations

References

Further reading

External links