ESP to Present SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY, 2/13

ESP is delighted to present for our Valentine offering the ebullient Neopolitan comedy Saturday Sunday Monday by Eduardo De Filippo, featuring Seattle's beloved Clayton Corzatte! (pictured at right)

De Filippo's 1959 Saturday Sunday Monday is a family story, involving an endearing bunch of Italian friends and relatives who just want to have Sunday supper together - but long-nursed grievances erupt, spewing hot ragu over practically everybody. The play is hugely dramatic, charmingly wacky, deeply moving, and flat-out hilarious.

We could spell out the plot in more detail, but as we read it ourselves, we felt that many of this beautiful play's pleasures are deepened by not knowing where it's headed. So come out and experience something which, given its seventeen speaking roles, you'll probably never see anywhere else.

We will be availing ourselves of the English adaptation by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, which premiered at London's National Theatre in 1973, in a production by Franco Zeffirelli that featured Frank Finlay, Joan Plowright, and, in the role Mr. Corzatte will undertake in our reading, Laurence Olivier. The reading will be directed by Jeff Steitzer, and will also feature ESP members Mark Anders, Dan Kremer, Leslie Law, Jeanne Paulsen, Larry Paulsen, Cynthia White and Richard Ziman, along with guest artists Joshua Carter, Ki Gottberg, Laura Kenny, Shawn Law, Annette Toutonghi and Billie Wildrick.

Eduardo di Filippo (1900-1984) was the son of a playwright and a costume designer. His play Filumena may be his most famous work; it was filmed by Vittorio de Sica as Marriage Italian Style in 1964. It was produced some years ago at the late Tacoma Actors' Guild. Our reading appears to be the first professional production of Saturday Sunday Monday in Seattle, and possibly west of the Pecos!

Monday, February 13th, the reading begins at 7pm. Donations to support ESP gratefully accepted at the door!