Review – A Special Day
From the moment the audience enters the intimate and cozy Arch Theatre at Holden Street, they are immersed in the world of A Special Day. The two actors, Ana Graham and Antonio Vega, are already on stage and casually chatting with the audience as they prepare for the show. Then they slowly get into character, adding subtle but important elements to their costumes, such as wedding rings, and arranging the minimal set for the beginning of the show. It’s an intriguing introduction.
A Special Day is a theatrical version of a 1977 Italian film, Una Giornata Particolare. The play takes place all within the space of one day – May 8th, 1938. A special day for the whole of Italy, as Mussolini is in power and Hitler is visiting Rome for a rally. But the day we, the audience, are a part of, is special for other reasons. Two strangers, basically alone in their apartment block, are able to meet and form a bond as almost the whole rest of Italy is at the rally. Graham plays Antonietta, a housewife with six children – all of whom have gone to the rally, and Vega is Gabriele, a former radio announcer. The two meet when Antionetta’s parrot escapes and Gabriele helps her catch it. The two spend the rest of the day in and out of each others apartments, sometimes laughing, sometimes dancing – at other time fighting and screaming at each other.
The script itself is bitter-sweet, moving swiftly between moments that make the whole audience laugh, and moments that bring total immersed silence and tears. Graham and Vega bring the already wonderful script to life, with impassioned and believable performances. By the end of the play, you will find yourself heartbroken for, and also a little bit in love with, both characters.
The clever use of the intimate space in the Arch Theatre brings another level of brilliance to this production. Both characters apartments are created with the same set and props and are, at times, depicted simultaneously – the two actors both on stage, but not interacting with each other. The three walls present are painted black, and are blank when the audience first enters. As props and scenery are required in the script, the actors add them to the walls with white chalk – this includes windows, mirrors, vases – even the infamous parrot’s birdcage. Though with less convincing actors, this might be distracting, here it does not take away from the moments at hand. The drawings are often amusing without disrupting the tone of the play. They add just another layer of intimacy between the actors and the audience.
All of the attempts to create intimacy within this play are highly successful – the audience will leave feeling as though they really known these characters, like they have truly spent this special day with them. While the play is not entirely a cheerful one, it gives the audience an insight into what ordinary people’s lives might have been during Mussolini’s fascist reign in Italy.
A Special Day is truly something special – do not miss.
