La grande magia

From 5 to 8 February 2026, La grande magia by Eduardo De Filippo will be staged at the Teatro Arena del Sole, Sala Leo de Berardinis.

One of Eduardo’s most mysterious and intriguing comedies. A tribute to theatre itself—its fiction and illusions that allow us to live.

La grande magia, one of Eduardo De Filippo’s masterpieces, turns the stage into a place where reality and illusion intertwine seamlessly. Girolamo Di Spelta, the tragic protagonist and betrayed husband, embodies the neuroses and frailties of the contemporary individual: incapable of loving and trusting, obsessed with control, he becomes the mirror of a humanity in crisis. On the other hand, Otto Marvuglia, the manipulative magician with a thousand faces, represents deception and illusion: a character who constantly reinvents himself, altering the perception of reality and urging both characters and spectators to question what surrounds them. What is real and what is illusion?

With visionary direction and evocative stage design, Russo transforms this universal question into a compelling theatrical experience, where dream and reality merge, forcing the audience to reflect on the fragilities and ambiguities of our time.

On the occasion of the performances in Bologna:
– Saturday, 7 February at 7:00 p.m., the performance will feature surtitles, thanks to the collaboration with Associazione FIADDA Emilia-Romagna.
– Sunday, 8 February at 4:00 p.m., the performance will be audio-described for blind and visually impaired spectators, thanks to the collaboration with the Centro Diego Fabbri of Forlì, as part of the Teatro No Limits Project.

Director Gabriele Russo
With Natalino Balasso, Michele Di Mauro
And with (in order of appearance) Veronica D’Elia, Christian di Domenico, Maria Laila Fernandez, Alessio Piazza, Manuel Severino, Sabrina Scuccimarra, Alice Spisa, Anna Rita Vitolo, and an actor to be announced
Set design Roberto Crea
Lighting Pasquale Mari
Costumes Giuseppe Avallone
Music and sound design Antonio Della Ragione
Production Fondazione Teatro di Napoli – Teatro Bellini, Teatro Biondo Palermo, Emilia Romagna Teatro ERT / National Theatre

Production photos by Flavia Tartaglia