Chiara Becchimanzi, an internet star, actress, director, playwright, and stand-up comedian with 25 years of distinguished experience on Italian and international stages, has arrived for a hilarious group therapy session, brimming with empathy and comedy. She has been a "serious" television commentator on Giovanni Floris's current affairs and politics program "Di Martedì" on La 7 for a few years, and has arrived hoping to join Luca and Paolo on the comic cover. Instead, she found herself discussing pension reform, labor costs, and international strategies without her knowledge. A man with an Arabic name called her in 2024, and she immediately thought it was a phone scam. But it was all real, and ultimately, it's turning out to be a fantastic experience, she explains during the show.
"The other day I even managed to make Bersani laugh," and laughter erupted from the over 400 fans who flocked from near and far to hear her perform live, filling the Campidarte theater in Ussana. The Roman actress has it all, and as a multitasking woman, she brings a wealth of experience to the shows she writes and performs, to laugh, smile, and reflect on the stereotypes and fears that accompany everyday routines. Chiara Becchimanzi is a raging river, never a pause, never a drop in tension, nearly two hours of satire, sketches, self-irony, and audience engagement, composed mostly of women, whom she often addresses, seeking complicity and playfully mocking her partners' behavior in everyday situations.
And then there's sex education, especially among young people in schools. Her teaching method works: today's students under 14, who, thanks to or because of technology, have access to any type of multimedia content, can say they've seen it all. But from her stories, in her role as an over-the-top drama teacher, they finally understand—a revolutionary discovery—that the reality and fiction of the web are worlds light years apart. Her lessons and therapeutic pelvic floor exercises have even reached the Pontifical Academy at the invitation of a friar who, having sat in the front row at one of her shows, where she entered dressed as the Pope and transformed into Miss Italy, invited her to perform before an audience of prelates who could listen to her comedy routines, with, it seems, thrilling results: excommunication hasn't yet arrived.
Among the many brilliant acts performed during the evening, the comical reinterpretation of "Fifty Shades of Grey," a favorite among teenagers seeking their first romantic experiences and eager to discover their sexuality, deserves its own piece for the sheer amount of hilarious jokes Chiara Becchimanzi manages to deliver, creating a show within a show that gives the audience a respite, visibly entertained and showing no signs of leaving despite the late hour. To achieve this goal—the audience's escape—the star closes with a sing-along of her first (and, Chiara hopes, last) single, "Dio, Patria e Famiglia" (God, Country, and Family). The comic effect is explosive, and finally, after 11 p.m., Chiara Becchimanzi closes her performance in the traditional manner, thanking the audience and expressing her love for the island. And more applause, and lots of it. At the end, the obligatory farewell to the readers of L'Unione Sarda.
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