On September 26, 2025, the stage of the Teatro Malibran will host a special evening as part of the 7th edition of the Festival delle Idee: Omaggio a Marcello Marchesi, a tribute to one of Italy’s greatest masters of comedy and language.
An exceptional cast—Luciana Littizzetto, Giacomo Papi, Massimo Marchesi, and Mariarosa Bastianelli—will bring to life the brilliant world of Marcello Marchesi, a playwright, screenwriter, and humorist who shaped Italian theater, cinema, and television across the 20th century. Known as the “inventor of the pun,” Marchesi elevated wordplay to an art form, mixing sharp irony with poetic nonsense, and balancing satire with a disarming lightness.
His humor, never vulgar but often irreverent, held up a mirror to society, lampooning both the eccentricities of public figures and the small neuroses of everyday people. Tonight’s homage celebrates that spirit with a performance that blends memory and invention, literature and laughter.
The format is a multi-voiced dialogue, where stories, jokes, aphorisms, and theatrical fragments intertwine, at times comic, at times poignant, at times absurd—yet always deeply human. The rhythm, bordering on musicality, echoes the cadence of Marchesi’s writing, turning language itself into the protagonist of the evening.
Omaggio a Marcello Marchesi is not just a nostalgic glance backward, but a lively reminder of how imagination and humor can still illuminate our present. A celebration of words, wit, and the timeless art of making people smile.
Website: www.festivalidee.it
Location: Malibran Theater, Venice
Schedule: Sep. 26, 2025
