Famosa Mimosa Theater of Turin presented Goldoni's La Locandiera (1752) with three actors outfitted as human marionettes interconnected by strings and set within a frame to look like a real puppet theater. The distinctive use of only black and white for Daniela Dan Cin's set and costumes was reminiscent of illustrations of Italian futurist theater. Written midway in his long career, Goldoni recommended this comedy was recommended as "the most moral, useful and instructive", mainly for the image of a woman both attractive and free of hypocrisy. Mirandolina has three noblemen staying at her inn. One by one they become entranced by her, the chauvinist pig Marchese even becoming a solicitous suitor. Ever the business lady, Mirandolina manages to keep her virtue and sends the three away to avoid problems at the inn as she agrees to marry fellow commoner Fabrizio, who will co-manage the operations.
In Marco Isi Dori's direction, the stylized structure of this comedy and exaggerated delivery of its quaint eighteenth-century language takes precedence over Goldoni's humanism, which is usually emphasized in American productions. The three actors succeed in the grueling task of playing nine different characters using different voices while moving as interconnected marionettes. Occasional comic touches such as their hats on strings popping up and down relieve the rigid format.
