Synopsis
April Fish & The Wooing of Lady Sunday
$13
Published by Dramatists Play Service
However there is hope for the future, as the wife of the mayor, Don Carluccio Benvenuto, has died, and Domenica is the only eligible replacement in the town
Inevitably the upright Don Carluccio comes calling (with his brood of eight motherless children, but the strong-willed Domenica does not capitulate - at least not immediately. How she deals with this sudden appearance of "romance" in her hitherto barren life is both touching and funny, and filled with the innate warmth and wisdom so characteristic of life "Italian style" - (2 men, 2 women, bits for 3 boys and 5 girls)
An inventive and masterful piece of comic writing, which deals with the "miraculous" occurrence of romance in the life of an aging Italian spinster
Selected for inclusion in Best Short Plays
The scene is in a tenement in New York's "Little Italy," the home of the family of Assunta and Fortunato. It so happens that there is an enormous hole in their bathroom wall, and Assunta has summoned the detested Pietro (an excellent plasterer) to fix it - but Fortunato has just spent all of the family's money on a magnificent gold tooth
The answer: April Fish - a traditional bit of Italian trickery in which the word is passed that Fortunato has died, and he is suitably laid out, amidst mourners and candles, when Pietro arrives
Certainly, in such a situation, no one would be so heartless to speak of money! Unfortunately the ruse fails to work quite as well as hoped, and what with the rising hubbub of assembled neighbors and friends, the situation grows increasingly frantic - and hilarious - until the good Padre Peggio arrives to set matters right and give the perpetrators their comeuppance (6 men and 5 women)
A buoyant, fast-paced family comedy, filled with rich humor and warm-hearted Italian high spirits