A series of videos in which Charles of England, while fulfilling his royal duties, “speaks” dubbed in the Romagna dialect… Gianni Parmiani, an actor from Lugo much loved in Romagna and beyond, began making them for fun, shortly after the death of the Queen Elizabeth and Charles’ enthronement as King, as she watched the ceremony on TV.
There must have been a few videos, as Parmiani himself writes, “Parchè e’ zug de burdël has it from rèssar curt e bël”but they immediately went viral (only the first video reached 100,000 views) and, given the great affection and copious requests received, Gianni was happily “forced” to continue: the videos have now become almost a dozen , the last one a few days ago… and let’s hope they don’t stop!
“The requests are really numerous and very kind. Thank you! – writes Parmiani on Facebook – I tried to resist, but I couldn’t. So… here’s another episode of the series (And if you don’t like it… Patience! So you’ll learn to insist!)” jokes the actor.
But in addition to entertaining, these little video pills have also brought with them an important secondary aspect, that is they have helped to shine the spotlight on the Romagna dialect, a vernacular in danger of extinction which is instead very important to pass on as it is the guardian of traditions and history local. “Many young people of the new generations (perhaps because using it through Facebook, ed) were intrigued and showed the videos to their parents and grandparents – Parmiani tells us on the phone, pleasantly amazed at the unexpected turn things have taken – and many others have written to me, intrigued by some dialectal terms, to find out what they meant”. In short, when we say that ‘not all social networks come to hurt’…
All the videos of the ‘King Charles series’: click to see them from 1 to 9
Gianni Parmiani
Bagnacavallo February 20, 1960. Always on the stage, feeding an ancient family tradition that is still perpetuated, Gianni Parmiani began acting very young in the theater group “La Compagine” – formed in San Lorenzo di Lugo in 1973 and of which he still does part – sharing the path of research experimented by the Company in the field of theater in the Romagna dialect. Together with his brother Paolo, with whom he has lived (for a lifetime!) a fruitful artistic partnership, he has been able to blend tradition, popular culture and cabaret, devoting himself with continuity and dedication to both dialectal and language theater.
Author of texts for the theater (both in Italian and in the vernacular), he provides consultancy in schools and holds theater workshops for children, teenagers and adults. He has been the narrator in concerts for schools, developing storytelling techniques in the field of fairy tales/concerts. Since October 2015 he has been a member of the Scientific Committee for the safeguarding, enhancement and transmission of the dialects of Emilia-Romagna and since February 2017 he has been collaborating with the weekly Settesere Qui, writing short stories that are published every fortnight in the column “Story of the evening”.
In September 2017, called by the director and playwright Marco Martinelli to interpret, together with Gigi Dall’Aglio, the pièce “Saluti da Brescello”, written by Martinelli himself and chosen to represent Emilia-Romagna as part of the colossal project “Portrait di una Nazione” (first part) staged at the Teatro Argentina in Rome, shared the stage of the National Theater with actors of the caliber of Giuseppe Battiston, Roberto Citran, Maddalena Crippa, Michele Di Mauro, Davide Enia, Francesca Mazza, Paolo Mazzarelli , Lino Musella, Filippo Nigro, Ulderico Pesce, Michele Placido, Arianna Scommegna and Vitaliano Trevisan. He was among the “guest actors” of the “Teatro delle Albe” company in Ravenna who on 23 November 2017 staged (at the Teatro Storchi in Modena) Marco Martinelli’s “Va pensiero”, the show which, successfully received by critics and audiences, has been performed in the most prestigious Italian theaters and which, also in the 2018-2019 season, will continue its national tour.
In autumn 2018 he will again be the protagonist (again in the role of Don Camillo) of the theatrical short “Saluti da Brescello”, this time in tandem with Luigi Dadina (Peppone), directed by Marco Martinelli, which will debut at the “Rasi” theater of Ravenna on 17 September.