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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2010
On May 5, 1921, Eleanora Duse presented her second debut, performing the part of Ellida in Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea at the Teatro Balbo in Turin. Her re-appearance at sixty-three, after an absence of twelve years, was a moment of extraordinary excitement, and when “Ellida” set foot on stage, she was greeted with a ten minute ovation. La Duse had retired in 1909, with no intention of ever performing again. Many praised her for leaving the boards at the height of a stunning career, ensuring an enduring image. And, indeed, it is the Eleanora Duse of the first career that is generally remembered, even today. Nevertheless, her second career, risking the destruction of that earlier image, serves to illumine much about the nature of her art, for her endeavor was to bring to the Italian stage a sweeping reform.
1 d'Amico, Silvio, Tramonto delgrandeattore (Milan: A. Mandadori, 1929), p. 55.Google Scholar
2 Rheinhardt, E. A., The Life of Eleanora Duse (London: Martin Seeker, 1930), p. 194.Google Scholar
3 Ibid, p. 188.
4 D'Amico, p. 41.
5 Pirandello, Luigi, “Eleanora Duse,” in The Theory of the Modern Sage, ed. Bentley, Eric (Harmondswotth, England: Penguin Books, 1968), p. 160.Google Scholar
6 Symons, Arthur, Eleanora Duse (New York: Benjamin Blom, 1969), P. 9.Google Scholar
7 Ibid, p. 77.
8 Signorelli, Olga, Eleanora Duse (London: Thames and Hudson, 1959), p. 43.Google Scholar
9 D'Amico, pp. 41–42.
10 Symons, p. 8.
11 Signorelli, p. 166.
12 d'Amico, Silvio, “Dal Capocomicoal regista,” in Cinquanta anni di teatro in Italia, ed. Pacuvio, Giulio (Rome: Carlo Bestetti, 1954), p. 21.Google Scholar Another variation on this statement is “To save our theatre, we must first destroy it. And the actors and actresses must be exterminated. It is they who render an impossible.” (D'Amico, , Tramonto, p. 41.)Google Scholar
13 Pirandello, p. 168.
14 Ibid, p. 169.
15 Schneider, Edouard, Gli ultimi anni di Eleanora Duse, tr. Gobbò, Maria (Milan: L'Eroica, 1928), pp. 48–52, 69–88.Google Scholar
16 Signorelli, p. 49.
17 Rheinhardt, p. 260.
18 Symons, pp. 99–100.
19 Signorelli, p. 159.
20 Rheinhardt, p. 267.
21 Tommaso Gallarati-Scotti, Thy Will Be Done, tr. Valerie Petri, in The Eleanora Duse Series of Plays, pp. 77–78. The ellipses are in the original text.
22 D'Amico, , Tramonto, p. 59.Google Scholar The critic in question was Nino Berrini of Turin's La Stampa.
23 Ibid, p. 60.
24 Ibid, p. 58.
25 Ibid, p. 62.
26 Rheinhardt, p. 271.
27 Schneider, p. 38.
28 Rheinhardt, pp. 274–275.
29 d'Amico, Silvio, “EleanoraDuseparte,” L'ldeaNizionale, December 12, 1922.Google Scholar
30 Schneider, pp. 164–165. She was fond of calling d'Annunzio “The Commandant of Fiume,’ in reference to his absurdly valiant capture of that city after The Versailles Treaty.
31 Signorelli, p. 167.
32 Schneider, p. 325. The original Italian, attributed to Silvio d'Amico, reads: “Pace in Dio/All'irrequieto anelito/ Di / Eleanora Duse / Nell'ora del suo ritorno / Dall'ultimo pellegrinaggio / Implorano Roma e l'Italia madre.”