A clandestine same-sex love story that began in Palermo in the 1960s and continues—running parallel to a so-called “normal” life—for thirty years: this is the theme of “Le mille bolle blu,” a monologue written by journalist Salvatore Rizzo, performed and directed by Filippo Luna. “Le mille bolle blu” debuted at the Nuovo Montevergini theater in the Sicilian capital and, after a series of successful performances, was staged at various public and private theaters across several Italian regions (from Lombardy to Veneto to Umbria) and at various festivals (from the Orestiadi in Gibellina to Taormina Arte). For his performance in this monologue, the lead actor, Filippo Luna, received the 2010 National Association of Theater Critics Award for achieving “a perfect blend of stage presence and acting that captures both emotion and disillusionment.” “Le mille bolle blu” tells the story of Nardino and Manuele—the former a barber in the suburbs, the latter a lawyer: they meet as very young men in the barbershop where Nardino works as an apprentice under his father’s watchful eye and Manuele is the son of a wealthy client. It is the early 1960s—precisely the period when Mina’s hit “Le mille bolle blu” was all the rage. Destined for predetermined social and family roles (those of irreproachable husbands and caring fathers), the two carry on a thirty-year relationship of love and passion that is fueled in part by the secrecy in which it is lived—a secrecy that is both its lifeblood and its torment. Manuele’s death from illness becomes the pretext for Nardino—unable to openly mourn the man he loved or to cry out his grief to the world—to retrace certain moments from those thirty years, amid nostalgia and bitterness, anger and tenderness. An altar of memories that affirms the universality of that feeling beyond all barriers and preconceptions. “Le mille bolle blu” is adapted from the short story of the same name by Salvatore Rizzo himself, originally published in the volume “Muore lentamente chi evita una passione – Diverse storie diverse” (Pietro Vittorietti Editore), which collects ten stories of male homosexuality, all drawn from real life and set in Sicily from the 1920s to the present day.

Nutrimenti Terrestri Messina
Directed by Maurizio Puglisi
Artistic Director: Manuele Morgese