Edoardo Erba

Playwright 

Edoardo Erba was born in Pavia, Italy, in 1954. He studied at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan and currently lives in Rome.
In Italy, his plays have been performed in Milan (Piccolo Teatro and Teatro Franco Parenti), Rome (Teatro Argot), Parma (Teatro Stabile), Turin (Teatro Erba), Venice (Teatro Fondamenta Nuove) and at the Biennale di Venezia Festival, the Ville Tuscolane Festival, the Taormina Festival, the Montepulciano Festival.

Plays:

Radical Obstruction (1986)
Monologue. Comedy.
The last twenty minutes of a 48-hour marathon speech by a member of parliament. Exhausted, the man no longer remembers what law he is opposing and begins to rave, mixing political ideas, his bodily needs, and bits of autobiography.

The night of Picasso (1990)
One act. Two characters. Dramatic comedy.
Two mental hospital patients meet in the hallway every night to write a film. Their work, however, has been at a standstill for years, blocked over a minor detail in a secondary scene. During a night of creative fury, and after having founded the new art of the next millennium, one of the two realises that he is the Messiah.
"The night of Picasso" was performed at the Stages Trilingual Theatre in Losa Angeles in 1991, starring Paul Skemp and David Dauncing. Directed by Paul Verdier. Translated by Paul Verdier.
"The night of Picasso" was published in Hystrio.

Porco selvatico (1991)
Two acts. Four characters. Dramatic comedy.
A man enters a bar and notices that a man is hanging where there used to be a chandelier. Moved by good intentions, the man expresses his desire to free the poor fellow, but the bartender and his woman - who are either the villains or the victims of the situation - confuse the man to the point where, at the end of the play, he becomes the executioner.
"Wild Pig" was performed at the Stages Trilingual Theater in Los Angeles in 1991, starring Grace Zabrinsky, Paul Verdier, Paul Skemp, and John Walcutt. Directed by Paul Verdier. Translated by Paul Verdier.

Human Tissue (1992)
One act. Three characters. Dramatic comedy.
During an autopsy, the dead man gets up and starts a conversation with the coroner and his typist. He has no idea who he was when alive, and asks the others for information and explanations.

Blind Curve (1992)
Four acts. Seven characters. Drama.
The dramatic story of love and drugs of Achille Varzi, the Formula One driver and historic rival of Tazio Nuvolari.
"Blind Curve" was published by Ricordi.

Marathon (1993)
One act. Two characters. Dramatic comedy.
Two friends are training together for the New York Marathon. But it is a strange night, and one of the two does not recognise the route or remember how he got there. He later discovers that he has been involved in a road accident and is in a coma.
"New York Marathon" won the Premio Candoni, and is published by Ricordi.
The play, directed by Imogen Kusch, was performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 1994. It was also performed in Barcelona in 1997, directed by Joan Riera.

Gronchi Rosa (1993)
Monologue. Drama.
A man confesses his sin: for years he forged rare stamps in order to win the affections of a woman who loved stamp-collecting. When he finally has her, though, he soon goes tired of her. And she kills herself.
"Gronchi Rosa" was published in Hystrio.

The Family Vice (1993)
Two acts. Five characters. Comedy.
Disillusioned by her past sentimental failures, a woman decides to hire a family to spend her holidays with. She goes to an agency, where a skilful salesman succeeds in renting her a normally horrible family. After a day at home with the family, the poor woman calls the agent to cancel the contract. But she finds that she cannot, for in her enthusiasm to conclude the agreement, the woman signed for ten years.
"The Family Vice" won the Judges Special Prize at Riccione Ater in 1993 
The radio version of the play represented Italy in the radio fiction category at Prix Italia 1995 and was published by Rai Edizioni.
A Turkish-language version of the play is being readied in Istanbul for the 1997-98 theatre season.
"The Family Vice" was published by Ricordi.

Good News (1994)
Two acts. Two characters. Dramatic comedy. 
Two women go door-to-door predicting that the end of the world is at hand. Mixing biblical quotations, paradoxical statements, and common cliche', they tell their truth to a Guest who we never see, yet who disturbs us.
Months, perhaps years later, the two sisters go back to the same place, but the situation is drastically changed. Something irreparable has happened in the world, and we find that the Guest is probably not human.
"Third Millennium" was one of the winners in the Contemporary Italian Drama Workshop held at Milan's Piccolo Theatre in 1995.
A radio version of the play represented Italy in the radio fiction category at Prix Italia 1997 and was published by RAI Edizioni.

The New Year's Eve of the Century (1995)
Two acts. Six characters. Dramatic comedy.
Two friends are lent a flat in the centre of an historic city, where they plan to ring in, along with the wife of one and the girlfriend of the other, the new millennium. In the flat they find a soldier who is convinced that he is living in a state of war; for him, the exploding fireworks are bombs and shells. The two men do not believe him, but when they open the window, and one of them is wounded, the war is brought home to them.
"The New Year's Eve of the Century" won the 1995 IDI Prize for Italian drama. The comedy was pubblished in Histryo.

The Man of My Life (1996)
Four scenes. Three characters. Comedy.
A girl describes the night that she was conceived, which was also the night when her parents met for the first time. If the girl was not there to provide the proof, no one would ever bet on the positive outcome of a meeting between such different people.

Salesmen (1996)
Two acts. Six characters. Dramatic comedy.
A salesman is let go as a result of a bit of dirty office politics by his manager, who is carrying out a restructuring of the company. The manager in turn is let go by the managing director, for even though he faithfully carried out his orders, he let too many people go and is now very unpopular with the sales force. During a night of chemical-induced delirium, when dreams take on the solidity of reality, a hitch-hiker rises up to defend all consumers and he fires the managing director on the spot.

Vaiolo (1998)
One act. Two characters. Comedy.
In the future, two men are visiting a theatre. They know everything about the building, but have no idea about what people did inside. They try to find good explanations, and decide that thatre was an hospital in which the doctors fought against a terrible desease. 

Dejavu (1999)
Three acts. Three characters. Dramatric
Two lovers, a youg man and a older woman in the garden of a conutry villa. They fall asleep and awake at night to a strange drama: has the area been contaminated by a nuclear accident? What's the real nature of their relationship? Was what they experienced true or is it just a nightmare? If a nightmare, the the reality is even worse...