Viviani, Raffaele

I did not receive an academic education, his work is based on personal life experience.

Viviani first appeared on the stage at the age of 4, by the age of 20 he received national popularity as an actor and playwright.

He performed, except Italy, in Budapest , Paris , Tripoli , on the stages of theaters of South America .

He acted in films (“Un amore selvaggio” (1908), “La tavola dei turni” (1932), “L'armata azzurra” (1932), “L'ultimo scugnizzo” (1938), etc.).

Died after a long illness.

The author of more than 60 plays, mainly in the Neapolitan dialect , whose heroes are people from the poor, petty criminals, prostitutes and the like, wrote about Naples of that period.

R. Viviani began with one-act and two-act plays (Lane, 1918, Capuan Gate, 1918, Cafe at Night and Day, 1919, Neapolitan Village, 1919, etc.). After 1922 he proceeded to the creation of three-act comedies based on acute social and psychological conflicts (Fishermen, 1924, Gypsies, 1926, The Last Street Tramp, 1932, Involuntingly Fraudulent, 1932, Masons, 1942) . Viviani's most famous work is the play “L'ultimo scugnizzo” (1931), about a poor Neapolitan street boy. For many of his early works, Viviani himself composed songs and music.

The Neapolitan dialectal theater of R. Viviani, was closely associated with the mass democratic audience, was subjected to persecution by the fascist authorities of Italy .

The creativity of R. Viviani, one of the creators of modern Italian realistic and truly folk drama, was highly appreciated by Maxim Gorky .

• Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978.

• Biography (Italian)