Mussolini's Theatre: Fascist Experiments in Art and Politics

Benito Mussolini has persistently been described as an 'actor' - and also as a master of illusions. In her vividly narrated account of the Italian dictator's relationship with the theatre, Patricia Gaborik discards any metaphorical notions of Il Duce as a performer and instead tells the story of his life as literal spectator, critic, impresario, dramatist and censor of the stage. Discussing the ways in which the autarch's personal tastes and convictions shaped, in fascist Italy, theatrical programming, she explores Mussolini's most significant dramatic influences, his association with important figures such as Luigi Pirandello, Gabriele D'Annunzio and George Bernard Shaw, his oversight of stage censorship, and his forays into playwriting. By focusing on its subject's manoeuvres in the theatre, and manipulation of theatrical ideas, this consistently illuminating book transforms our understandings of fascism as a whole. It will have strong appeal to readers in both theatre studies and modern Italian history.

Author: Patricia Gaborik
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 07/08/2021
Pages: 326
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 9.20h x 7.80w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9781108830591

About the Author
Gaborik, Patricia: - Patricia Gaborik teaches at the University of Calabria and has been fellow of the American Academy in Rome (FAAR '06). She has been visiting scholar at Stanford, UCLA, and Columbia University. She is the editor-translator of Massimo Bontempelli's Watching the Moon and Other Plays (2013) and editor of Pirandello in Context (2021).