Laura Morante ed Eugenia Costantini. Il ballo

Based on the novel of the same name by Irène Némirovsky, *Il ballo* is a musical reading that brings to the stage a story of family rivalry, ambition and a desire for redemption.

Laura Morante plays Rosine Kampf, a mother obsessed with social advancement, whilst Eugenia Costantini takes on the role of her daughter Antoinette, a teenager wounded by humiliation and eager for redemption.

Mother and daughter in real life too, the two actresses give voice to an intense confrontation that lays bare the fragility and conflicts in the relationship between the two characters. The Kampfs, having recently become a wealthy family, organise a lavish reception with the aim of gaining recognition from Parisian high society. Antoinette, excluded from the party at her mother’s behest, channels her pain into silent revenge: instead of sending out the invitations to the guests, she throws them into the Seine. On the evening of the ball, nobody turns up.

With her concise and incisive prose, Némirovsky paints an ironic and merciless portrait of the French bourgeoisie, recounting a family drama in which love, resentment and vanity intertwine, culminating in an ending that is as cruel as it is surprisingly amusing.