The star Arturo raises a storm off the coast of Cyrene, Libya, to restore some justice to human affairs. Thus, the ship of a pimp travelling to Sicily carrying two young prostitutes. The two women, shipwrecked, land on the shore, where their master and his Sicilian partner also find refuge shortly afterwards. On that shore, next to the temple of Venus, lives an old Athenian, Demone, from whom a little girl had been kidnapped many years earlier.

 

The songs make Rudens, like other Plautine comedies, a prototype of a musical. The comedy also contains a gem for the history of Western law: the clash between two slaves over the right of ownership of what is caught at sea, even if it is not fish, but a chest containing possible treasures.

The description of the storm allows the performance to be framed with references to two important scenes from Shakespeare's The Tempest.

 

Dramaturgical direction: Elisabetta Matelli

Stage direction: Christian Poggioni

Restaging: Eri Çakalli

Music and songs: Paolo Tortiglione

Set design: Dino Serra

Costumes: Chiara Barlassina