Adelaide, ‘born a dramatic gipsy’

Abstract

Many acting careers have a T₀, that is a first time that corresponds neither to the simple chronology nor to any anecdotes, but events in which the theatre clearly manifests itself to them in the form of alignment between the represented reality and their own biography. In this sense, the beginnings of Ristori’s career are very little investigated. Instead, her condition as a figlia d’Arte (‘daughter of Art’; the imprinting of her grandmother Teresa Canossa Ristori), the debut in companies (Cavicchi, Rosa-Tranquilli and Moncalvo), and comic roles were decisive facts, as well as the approach to the leading role with Francesca da Rimini, to whom she lended her youth (14 years) and that exposed her to culture, Europe and personal independence. Thanks to some genealogical and biographical checks, by crossing a new 0-14 theatrography, the biographical profiles published before her death and the anecdotal self-narration of the actress, we try to identify the artistic legacy of these early years in the form of a personal dramaturgy of actor (realism, art of ‘transition’, intelligence of stage entrance).