Bene’s theatre film or televised version of his theatre adaptation of Richard III was made in 1977 and first broadcast on Italian RAI TV in 1981. The film was dedicated to the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, who replied to the dedication by writing ‘Un manifesto di meno’ on Bene’s art. The text appeared in 1978 in Sovrapposizioni, a book which also contained Bene’s script of Riccardo III as well as his response to Deleuze’s piece. Read More
This TV version of Bene’s Otello is based on a video recording made in the Torino RAI Studios in 1979. The editing was done more than twenty years later, in 2001, by RAI Educational, commissioned by Bene himself, who supervised the entire process. Otello’s first cue is: “E’ la causa, anima mia” (“It is the cause, my soul”, 1’01”) Read More
Shakespeare’s play and Jules Laforgue’s fin-de-siècle Hamlet ou les suites de la piété filiale (1887), a version of the Hamlet story, are merged in Carmelo Bene’s film Un Amleto di meno (One Hamlet Less; Italy, 1973). From Laforgue, Bene takes some speeches as well as the characters of Kate and William – two actors of the theatre company arrived at Elsinore, with William also being the capocomico or lead actor and theatre manager – and the title of the film, which is from the French text’s conclusion: ‘Un Hamlet de moins; la race n’en est pas perdue, qu’on se le dise!’. Read More
