CLASSIC
The episodes the company offers are numerous. Some follow from birth to death the journey of a character, in the revival of the Carolingian cycle, where each episode is concatenated to the other. They are in every way small cycles of four or six evenings, dramaturgically thought out so that each episode is autonomous and an end in itself because they are also designed for an occasional audience, such as may be that of a festival, reviews or theatrical programming.
In these performances, “preservation” is a value, the main commitment, is against the obliteration of memory, against disappearance and cultural homogenization. Below is an example of a short cycle on the paladin Orlando.
Orlando’s childhood
The myth of Orlando’s great invincible hero is not limited to his coming of age, when, as Charlemagne’s first paladin, he would perform the most wondrous deeds. Legend has it that from an early age, despite the painful distance from his father Milo, he showed what he was made of. The show aims to summarize the endless adventures of Orlando as a child.
Born in a cave near Sutri, he lived for seven years with his mother Berta in the middle of the woods, without knowing school desks. In fact, going to gather herbs to bring some food to his mother, he kills a snake believing it to be a fish.
Berta, being Charlemagne’s sister and having been banished from Christian territory when for love of Milone she fled Paris, is afraid that her son will reveal his origins to someone; but Orlandino is lively and curious, and to sell cheese and ricotta he travels as far as the town of Sutri. He soon befriends a group of young commoners who invite him to participate in a joust that will take place between the sons of the poor and the sons of the nobles.
Orlandino immediately stands out; he wins them all, even Oliviero, son of Governor Rainiere. As fate would have it, Charlemagne, after his coronation in Rome, stops for a few days in the town of Sutri. Orlandino does not miss the opportunity and manages by cunning to penetrate the palace.
Gano di Magonza wants him arrested, but Charlemagne, enamored of his cunning, wants to know whose son he is and has two of his paladins follow him, who discover the truth.
Charles meets his sister and nephew Orlandino, all of whom leave for Paris.
Orlando conquers weapons and the sword Durlindana
Orlando is studying in the seminary and is visited by Astolfo. To him he expresses his desire to go to Aspromonte to fight alongside his father. Astolfo also shows the same desire, so they think of an escape. Meanwhile at the Christian camp it is night, the defeated Christians beat a retreat. Charlemagne orders a meeting of the council to check their losses. Missing is Milo, father of Orlando, who is killed by Almonte.
Upon hearing of his brother-in-law’s death, Charlemagne decides to go to recover at least Milo’s body. Meanwhile, Orlando and Astulf arrive at the Christian camp. Orlando feels a certain uneasiness around him, everyone eludes him, only Gano reports that if he wants to find his father and Charlemagne he must reach the woods. Orlando must choose which direction to take; an angel will guide him to the right side. Meanwhile, Charlemagne had met Almonte, challenges him to a duel but the latter has enchanted weapons, so he cannot beat him.
Arriving there, Orlando, notices his uncle’s difficulties and, taking advantage of a moment’s hesitation on the part of Almonte – to whom they had foreboded death from a child – pushes him into a spring until he drowns. The rules of chivalry allow Orlando to take the weapons, the sword Durlindana and the horse of the slain enemy. Together with the other paladins and the entire French army, Orlando and Charlemagne defeat the pagan army. They can now give honorable burial to Count Milone D’Anglante.
Orlando and Rinaldo’s grand duel for the love of the beautiful Angelica.
Paris is threatened with siege, but from Charlemagne’s court a number of paladins have departed, who caught up in love for Angelica have set out in search of her.
Even Orlando, who is the captain general and the most valiant, has left the court, and King Charles has only to entrust Rinaldo with the command of the French army.
Battles, escapes, clashes with fantastic beings follow. Rinaldo, too, ends up neglecting duty and, inflamed with love for Angelica, contends with Orlando. The two paladins duel, they would surely have killed each other if the magician Malagigi had not intervened to divide them….
Orlando’s madness
When Orlando discovers that Angelica has fallen in love with another man, and what is more, not a warrior but a simple soldier, he goes mad. His madness is a violent rage that leaves no chance of coming to his senses. Only the intervention of the supernatural can heal him from the spell of love and jealousy.
Agramant of Africa brings war to Charlemagne. Christians and Saracens clash under the walls of the city of Paris. Chloridanus and Medorus, in order to recover the body of their King Dardanello, push their way nightly n under the city walls but are attacked by a squad of Christians, who kill Chloridanus and severely wound Medorus. Meanwhile, Angelica, in an attempt to get away from France, reaches the camp where the fighting has just taken place and there, among the corpses, she hears a lament.
To be seriously wounded is Medoro, who had gone to find the body of King Dardanello to give him an honorable burial. Angelica rescues him and falls madly in love with him. Medoro heals and the two live a beautiful love affair. Meanwhile, Orlando wanders the countryside and mountains in search of Angelica. At one point, he spots some inscriptions carved in the bark of trees that reveal the great love between Angelica and Medoro. The pain of his beloved’s betrayal is such that the paladin goes mad and destroys everything he comes across.
Meanwhile, Astolfo, who had decided to search for Orlando, finds himself in the midst of an enchantment. Led by the Hippogriff to the moon, he meets St. John, who shows him where the breasts of all men are kept, and therefore Orlando’s as well. It is up to him to retrieve the great paladin’s wits and bring it back to earth.
Orlando’s Death
The title immediately takes us back to the well-known chivalric poem La Canzone di Orlando by the presumptive Turoldo, where it recounts the defeat of Charlemagne’s army led by Orlando in the Pyrenean pass at Roncesvalles.
Charlemagne gathers the Council of Paladins to remember the death of Rinaldo. Astolfo reproaches Orlando for not yet having fulfilled his oath, that of not joining in conjugal bed with his wife Alda La Bella unless he first crowns her queen of Spain.
Orlando had taken this oath to end the Spanish’s constant incursions into France. The first paladin, offended and resentful wants to keep his promise, and the departure would have taken place immediately, were it not for Gano di Magonza, who calming the spirits of all the paladins, advises Charles instead to send an ambassador to King Marsilio to ask him to good-naturedly hand over to Orlando the crown of Spain, in exchange for which they can keep the kingdom of Granada. Doing so would have prevented so much bloodshed.
He himself will be chosen as ambassador and any infamous treachery of Gano will be realized because the Paladins alone will be sent to the Roncesvalles Gorge where they will fight their last battle.
