Mandragola

Machiavelli’s 16th-century comedic classic. Callimaco wishes to bed Lucrezia, though she is the wife of the aging Nicia. Consequently trickery and deceit are in order if Callimaco is to obtain his desire. A plan is hatched involving a plant, the mandragola, with supposedly magical powers. Nicia is fooled, but will Lucrezia prove as gullible? So you don’t think Machiavelli had a sense of humor? Then go see the rollicking production of his comedy MANDRAGOLA at the Shakespeare Theater … MANDRAGOLA, adapted by Peter Maloney, is filled not only with Machiavelli’s rather questionable wisdom, but with a surprising amount of wit … If comedy seems an unlikely metier for Machiavelli, the action of MANDRAGOLA is of the any-means-to-an-end variety … These days, when Machiavellian strategy is being taken all too seriously, it’s refreshing to laugh at the old boy. -J. Wynn Rousuck, The Sun, Washington, DC A naughty comedy by that great Italian Renaissance guy, Machiavelli … performed with great flair and precision … a very funny, bawdy play … a farce about lust, both physical and financial … A hilarious and lively visit to the streets and gutters of 16th century Florence. -Jane Horwitz, WTTG TV, Washington, DC Machiavelli’s realistic and unflattering opinion of human nature, expressed most notably in his classic The Prince, is given full voice here, but to obvious farcical effect. -American Theater In this Renaissance sex-comedy human greed is the motor which drives the characters to chase each other around and around during a day and a night in old Florence. -Play Source, Theatre Communications Group