Actor, director and playwright Armando Pugliese, brilliant and innovative protagonist of the Italian theater scene, died today at the age of 76 in Naplesthe city where he was born on September 22, 1947. Over the last half century, Pugliese has staged absolute masterpieces and collected important awards: the Ubu Prize, the Agis Golden Ticket and the Gli Olimpici del Teatro, among others, as well as the hospitality of his shows in European festivals, such as those of Edinburgh, Zurich, Nancy and Paris.
After years of professional training at the ‘Silvio d’Amico’ Academy of Dramatic Arts in Rome, under the direction of Orazio Costa Giovangigli and Luca Ronconi, with whom he participated as assistant director and as actor in the production On stage in Orlando Furioso, Pugliese at the same time assimilated, as a young Neapolitan artist, the lessons of Eduardo De Filippo to whom he was linked as a master. From 1970 to 1980, Pugliese worked as director of the Cooperativa Teatro Libero, of which he also served as president. He created numerous shows, including Iwona Principessa di Borgogna de Gombrowich, Il Barone Rampante, based on the novel by Italo Calvino, and Masaniello, written by Pugliese himself with Elvio Porta, which enjoyed great success for four seasons throughout Italy. Then come I Vermi from the novel by Francesco Mastriani, L’Opera d’e muort’e famma by Elvio Porta, Il Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes with Flavio Bucci and Gianni Cavina.
With Baron Rampante, during a very gratifying relationship with Calvino, who wanted to entrust him with the theatrical adaptation of his novel, Pugliese began a journey as a playwright, parallel to that which involved him in directing, through which he addresses numerous elaborations. texts of literary works according to the theatrical staging.
For the Dei Due Mondi Festival in Spoleto in 1981, he created Risorgimento by Roberto Lerici and, later, in 1994, Neapolitan Mysteries and Delights by Sinagra at the Roman Theater. From 1981 to 1984 he moved to Mola di Bari to work, as artistic director, with the Cooperativa Teatro Sud with the project of founding a permanent theater workshop in the old Gaslini factory which included a broad and detailed program of technical and cultural activities for the actors. and technicians with independent scenography, costumes and masks workshops, functionalized for the creation of theatrical shows. The project was also presented at the Venice Theater Biennale in 1984. He then returned to live in Rome and worked as a director throughout Italy.
Armando Pugliese has directed numerous shows (around one hundred and sixty) produced by the main Teatri Stabili, such as those of Genoa, Catania, Rome, while also working with numerous private companies with whom he has created works by Shakespeare, Molière, Feydeau , Tennessee Williams. , working with actors such as Flavio Bucci, Gianni Cavina, Mario Scaccia, Marisa Fabbri, Elena Sofia Ricci, Michele Placido, Arnoldo Foà, Lina Volonghi, Lina Sastri, Vittorio Caprioli, Silvio Orlando, Alessandro Preziosi, Alessandro Haber, Luisa Ranieri, Giuliana De Sio and many others. With the company of Luca De Filippo, he directed O Scarfalietto by Scarpetta in 1986, Ogni anno punto e capo in 1988 and Questo Fantasmi in 1992 by Eduardo De Filippo, as well as Tartufo by Molière in 1997.
In 1990, he wrote and directed La Médée de Porta Medina and in 1996 Gilda Mignonette, both with Lina Sastri. He notably directed I Viceré with Turi Ferro and Il Segno Verde by Rosso di San Secondo for the Teatro Stabile in Catania, and Ubu Re by Alfred Jarry for the Teatro di Roma directed by Luca Ronconi, with Mario Scaccia and Marisa Fabbri . In 1997, he took over as artistic director of the Compagnie des Antilles with which he took over the historic Masaniello show and created, on behalf of the Taormina Arte Festival, in October 2009, a show based on the novel La Pelle by Curzio Malaparte, then presented at the Teatro Mercadante in Naples and at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.