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★★★★ Matilde Vigna gives a stark account of devastating floods of biblical proportions that hit Polesine in north-eastern Italy in 1951. A long summer of droughts ended with unceasing rain in the autumn. Flood waters rose to unprecedented levels. Villages were evacuated. Elderly people were swept away.
Switching characters through her tone and a clever use of lighting, Vigna contrasts this disastrous period with her life seven decades on. In a happier and more bubbly tone, she confides that she’s an expert on packing. She lives out of a suitcase by choice. Her moves from place to place are intentional. But she asks, how do you pack a ‘Goodbye Forever’ suitcase when disaster strikes? What do you keep? What do you abandon? What are your priorities when your survival is at stake?
This compelling monologue forces you to think about the vicissitudes of our lives. Life can be more precarious than we think. In 1951, Vigna says, we all believed that we had a firm grip on things. We believed that we were in control of our own lives. We didn’t see the storm clouds approaching. Would we fair any better if the waters rose to leave a lingering dark line on our walls?
Reviewed by David Kerr
