Ligurian:
# Domenego Garello (sec. XIX)

Tra o 1812 e o 1819, l’attô Domenego Garello o presenta a-o tiatro de Campetto e a-o Falcon unna serie de farse e parodie (i titoli peuan ëse in italian comme in zeneise), che gh’an comme protagonista a mascara do Sciô Regiña, son di titoli comme O Sciô Regiña a-a Mäpaga, O sposaliçio do Sciô Regiña co-a Sciâ Leituga, Le cantatrici di Bargagli e Regina capo dell’orchestra dei gobbi, Il convitato di pietra con Regina servo di Don Giovanni, O Sciô Regiña, mego pe fòrsa, Regiña servitô de doî padroin, Regina atterrito dalle apparizioni, e atre. O Sciô Regiña, avanti d’ëse unna maccetta tiatrale, o l’ea stæto un òmmo in carne e òsse, un gandollo originäio da Rivea de Ponente, çerto Françesco Cavanna, un ch’o se guägnava a vitta de anâ in gio à pe ostaie à fâ rie e gente, che ghe manuavan un gòtto de vin e un tòcco de pan. Do 1792, à quarant’anni, o l’ea mòrto à l’improvvista, ciocco areo, in cazze de pe-e scae de unn’ostaia e gh’ea fiña stæto quarche sospetto in sce sta seu fin, ch’a paiva pöco ciæa. Ma e gente no se l’aivan ascordou e di attoî, tra i quæ o Garello, aivan continuou à interpretâ o personaggio a-o tiatro, ascì à distansa de anni; o Martin Piaggio, in presentâ o seu primmo Lunäio (1815), o ghe fa dî de coscì:

Fòscia o mæximo Piaggio o l’aiva conlaborou à sti pessi tiatrali de pöco impegno, mascime con scrive i versci che de soventi concluddan e scingole scene, à transumme o contegnuo; e dapeu o l’à repiggiou lê ascì o personaggio, con modificâlo ancon in scê pagine do seu Lunäio, fin à fâne o protòtipo do zeneise de bon senso e «à l’antiga», figua ch’a reseconda inti anni fin a-o tiatro do Baçigalô, e da sto chì inte quello do Govi. E farse do Garello paivan perdue, fin quande, di anni Settanta do secolo passou, o Aidano Schmuckher o no l’à descoerto inte l’Archivio do Museo do Risorgimento Le gelosie del Signor Regina, con attribuîle a-o Piaggio. Segondo o F. Toso, sto testo chì o l’é in cangio euvia do Garello, cösa pe varie raxoin ciù probabile. Chi scrive ste nòtte o l’à avuo occaxon de asciste (1977) à quella ch’a l’é stæta fòscia l’urtima missa in scena de sta comedia, pe-a regia do Cesare Viazzi, e interpretâ da-o Nanni Raffo e o Franco Paladini, doî bravi attoî, che fòscia in giornâ son stæti in pittin ascordæ.

Chì coscì, presentemmo a scena donde o sciô Regiña o l’incontra (e o se scontra) con l’atra mascara do tiatro zeneise, o Capoâ fanfaron, che chì o se ciamma «Enrico» e o fa mostra d’ëse franseise pe raxoin de intresso, con tutti i equivochi tipichi de sta smersa de tiatro. À sta mainea, a vëgne repropòsta a vëgia comiçitæ do tiatro plurilengue do seiçento, co-e incomprenscioin che nasce tra chi parla doe lengue despæge. Da tegnî à mente che semmo a-i tempi che Zena e a Liguria appartegnivan à l’impëio napoliònico e de sordatti franseixi occupanti, di quæ avei unna çerta poia, se ne saià incontrou de pe coscì, inta vitta vea.

English translation:
# Domenico Garello (19th cent.)

Between 1812 and 1819, actor Domenico Garello presented a series of farces and parodies (with titles in either Italian or Genoese) at the Campetto and Falcone theaters, which featured the character “Signor Regina” as the protagonist. Amongst the comedies, Il Signor Regina alla Malapaga, Il matrimonio del Signor Regina con la Signora Lattuga, Le cantatrici di Bargagli e Regina capo dell’orchestra dei gobbi, Il convitato di pietra con Regina servo di Don Giovanni, Il signor Regina medico per forza, Regina servitore di due padroni, Regina atterrito dalle apparizioni and others. Mr. Regina, before he was a theatrical character, had been a flesh-and-blood man, a vagabond originally from the Western Riviera, a certain a Francesco Cavanna, who earned his living by going around taverns and making people laugh, who would hand him a glass of wine and a piece of bread. In 1792, at the age of forty, he died suddenly, completely drunk, falling down the stairs of an inn, and some suspicion had even arisen about this end of his life, which seemed suspicious. But people had not forgotten him, and some actors, including Garello, had continued to play the character in plays even years later. Martino Piaggio, introducing his first Lunäio (1815), has him say this:

Perhaps Piaggio himself had collaborated on these little plays, especially writing the verses that often conclude individual scenes, to summarize their content; and later he, too, took up the character, modifying it again on the pages of his Lunäio, until he became the prototype of the common-sense and “old-fashioned” Genoese, a figure that returns over the years to the theater of the Bacigalupo, and from this into Govi’s. Garello’s farces seemed lost, until, in the 1970s, Aidano Schmuckher discovered in the archives of the Museo del Risorgimento Le gelosie del Signor Regina, attributing them to Piaggio. According to F. Toso, this play is instead the work of Garello, which for various reasons is more likely. The writer of this note was able to attend (1977) what was perhaps the last staging of this play, directed by Cesare Viazzi, and performed by Nanni Raffo and Franco Paladini, two fine actors, who perhaps have been somewhat forgotten today.

Here we present the scene in which Mr. Regina meets (and clashes) with the other character of Genoese theater, the buffoonish Corporal, who here is called “Enrico” and pretends to be French due to the plot, with all the misunderstandings typical of this type of plays. In this way, the old comedy of seventeenth-century multilingual theater is revived, with the misunderstandings that arise between speakers of two different languages. It should be remembered that we are in the days when Genoa and Liguria belonged to the Napoleonic Empire, and occupying French soldiers, who were occasionally to be feared, would have frequently been seen in real life.