WARGRAVE THEATRE WORKSHOP presents
'FILUMENA'
by Eduardo De Filippo, translated by Tanya Ronder
Wednesday, 23rd to Saturday, 26th OCTOBER 2019
At The Woodclyffe Hall, WARGRAVE, RG10 8BY
Filumena is described as Eduardo De Filippo’s best-known work and his finest comedy-drama. Full of Neapolitan atmosphere and cynical and romantic entanglements, it was made into a highly successful film in 1964 under the title Marriage Italian Style starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni - so no pressure for WTW actors!
Set in Naples in 1946 Filumena Marturano is a former prostitute who has been the mistress of Don Domenico Soriano for nearly thirty years. When she learns that she is to be ‘thrown over’ for a much younger woman whom he plans to marry, she pretends to be dying, the priest is called, and Don Domenico is inveigled into a death-bed marriage. No sooner has the priest completed the ceremony than Filumena makes a miraculous recovery, with the words ‘Happy wedding day, darling!’ As he reels in shock and anger he realises he has been tricked, and tells her he will have the marriage declared null and void. He then learns that this brilliant, strong-willed woman has a few more surprises for him. She tells him that she has three sons that she has supported by stealing from him – and that one of them is his but she will not say which one. He then tries desperately to discover his true son.
Is Filumena a simple illiterate woman who only wants to create a family for her sons, or an opportunistic prostitute? And will Domenico, the selfish aging gigolo, learn to accept his family responsibilities?

Ann Roberts, Director