Stefania Rocca: «Dear males, the time of hunting is over»

STefania Rocca realizes it the moment she says the sentence. He lights up and, perhaps, in that moment the whole interview is summarized. We’re talking about patriarchal culture, about Chicago, the musical of which she is the absolute protagonist with Chiara Noschese (who is also the director) where she dances, sings and acts, of her friend Paola Cortellesi’s film There’s still tomorrow (“An important work which, through a story of yesterday, tells the story of today”) and of the propensity to be multitasking.

She, in particular, has two teenage children to follow along with her career as an actress and director. «I go back and forth to Milan» she confesses, practically herself with the trolley in her hand leaving for Rome. «The boys are quite independent now and then Carlo helps me (her husband, the entrepreneur Carlo Capasa, president of the National Chamber of Fashion, ed.)».

At that point Stefania Rocca freezes for a second. And she stares at me seriously with her blue eyes. «I said “he helps me” when in reality he is only doing what every father should do. In the sense that we divide tasks according to our commitments, it’s not that he “helps me”. We women also make mistakes with words. We are so inside this cultural code that we repeat certain phrases without realizing it.”

It is a moment of great commitment for Stefania Rocca

It is a moment of great professional commitment for the Turin actress. In addition to the current tour Chicago (musical that surpassed Oh mama! and is now in Rome at the Brancaccio theater until December 10th)is working on the new series of Life as Carlo with Carlo Verdone (season two premieres September 8 on Paramount Plus).

In April 2024, however, he will return to the stage first in Trieste, then in Milan and Rome, as a director, for Eva’s mother taken from the book by Silvia Ferreri, finalist for the Premio Strega 2018, centered on the transition journey of a boy born in a female body.

Stefania Rocca: «In Eva’s mother I wanted to explore a series of issues related to rights”

Effectively, Chicago And Eva’s mother they are works that put women at the centre.
With fundamental distinctions, however. While in the musical we play on the reversal of roles, with women in the role of executioner against male supremacy – and where it is the man who is hunted for once – in the play we leverage beliefs, prejudices and fears that do not communicate mother with daughter Eva. Because, then, we are always there: the mother must be perfect, as our patriarchal society wants. She remains closed in her role and struggles to open her heart, the only thing that really matters.

Why were you impressed by the book?
I wanted to delve deeper, understand if I really had all the tools before expressing my opinion. I wanted to explore a series of themes related to rights, inclusion and that ability to see a person regardless of gender, social class, religion or skin color. And bring to the surface those prejudices that derive from a certain education that does not look at people, but pigeonholes them into predefined roles.

I wanted to delve deeper into the path of those who must learn to recognize themselves, be recognized, but also the generational conflict between mother and son. I wanted to try a way to resolve that gap. Among other things, I believe that this demolition of certain boundaries began with our mothers’ generation, which fought for the right to abortion, to divorce, this is a simple evolution.

Stefania Rocca: «Chicago it’s current”

In Chicago instead, there are all the female themes. Starting with #MeToo. Why a musical at this point in your career?
It was focused on women and I wanted to try my hand as a performer this time. Chicago – if we want to look at it in perspective – it is a bit emblematic of this historical moment… but a century earlier. He talks about how women in the 1920s at a certain point rebel against male arrogance. The two protagonists kill their lovers and find their redemption in prison, thanks also to a clever lawyer who brings them into the limelight in the newspapers and into an alliance.

In a society where justice is now a circus, a show, even murder can become a form of entertainment and bring two murderers into the limelight, making them true divas. Maybe it makes you “smile”, it was a century ago, yet we are still here, in a chauvinist and divisive society where the media can praise or destroy as they please. Where the title is more important than the content and where the victim can easily become an executioner and vice versa. Where there is a continuous search for identity.

At this moment, however, LGBTQ+ rights seem more at risk…
Precisely for this reason we need to talk, discuss, open up even more.

The other day I reflected on the fact that, perhaps even unconsciously, I have always chosen roles that told the story of a minority, people who were excluded for one reason or another. I think of the TV series A big family. My character is the one who struggles to fit into the usual clichés, or to Resurrection of the Taviani brothers, or Edda Ciano and the communist. Maybe it’s not a coincidence.

I am a born rebel. I always have been, I still am now and I will be.

Telling who we are and where we come from is fundamental and it is the cultural operation that Paola Cortellesi has done with her film, in a historical era in which we are more or less all anesthetized by everything.

“We’re getting the word out”

She also made her directorial debut like Cortellesi and Kasia Smutniak (with the documentary Mur, ed.). Do you see it as a coincidence or a female need of this time?
We’re getting the word out. Today we are that middle generation of women, mothers and workers, who are still trying to resolve a whole series of questions that have remained open. Starting from the feelings of guilt created by questions like “who takes care of the kids when you’re not around?”, “why do you work so much?”…

Female emancipation, both at a social and regulatory level, has masked gender discrimination, continuing to fuel prejudices and stereotypes that damage individual and social dignity to the point of extreme forms of aggression. Violence is a violation of human rights.

We need to work on shared and generalized beliefs, around the different roles that men or women should have in everyday life and which lead to confusing the biological dimension (sex) with the social one (gender).

«I talk about feminicides with my children»

Do you talk to your children about gender violence, which has never been so current?
Very very much. I also wonder about friends and classmates. Recently on social media I saw interviews in which a series of teenagers were asked if they would “allow” their girlfriends to go to the disco. I showed the answers to my children (Leone Ariele, born in 2007, and Zeno, born in 2009, ed).

At one point a sixteen-year-old says: “If you ask me permission, maybe yes.” Why do some girls justify certain behaviors? I believe it is important to change this attitude, passed from generation to generation, which makes normal conduct unacceptable. Maybe it’s not just a matter of talking about it in the family, it’s really a cultural issue. As a mother, what solutions do you see? Meanwhile, let’s teach our sons that the time for hunting is over, in schools and in the family. And enough with the idea that our kids are perfect and always right.

The cotton wool cradle in which we wrap them does not allow them to deal correctly with rejections or failures. Or to make your own choices independently. And then we should pay more attention to the words, to our history, to reflect on certain behaviors. Let’s ensure that a girl, a woman, even the most timid or insecure one, even the most temperamentally fragile and defenseless one, does not have to live in constant fear or worse in the shame of not having been able to resist an unwelcome situation. It is not right to ask yourself in advance whether there is a risk in accepting an invitation to dinner or to dance or to have a drink with a group of friends. You shouldn’t have to avoid a glass of wine for fear of being drugged and molested. Or thinking that being drunk could be the same as consenting.

«It will be fun with Carlo Verdone»

Let’s talk now about true love, about love with… Carlo Verdone in Vita da Carlo. What can you tell us?
There will be funny situations. My character evolves and many situations are reversed.

I will no longer be just the woman who tries to entertain Carlo, something unexpected will happen in the evolution of my character and relationship with him. In this series, Sofia, my character, spends a lot of time with Sandra, her ex-wife.

Female solidarity? Maybe! I’m just saying that I really enjoy working with Monica Guerritore.

An actress I have always admired, since I started taking my first steps in show business.

Returning to the initial question: how do you manage time between children, husband and career?
With availability and comparison. And then time does not exist, it is a code dictated by man to regulate himself.

My day is marked by day and night. In the evening I work in the theater and in the morning with Carlo Verdone.

When I’m free I go back to my boys happily, trying not to be the classic mother hen. And then they know that I’m always there.

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