Das Kaffeehaus

In the organizer's words:

A square in the center of a medium-sized city. It's not particularly beautiful, but it is lively. Ridolfo recently opened a coffee bar here. 'Keep it clean' is his motto. He wants to impress customers with reliable quality and make them feel comfortable and safe. An ambitious project, as there is an arcade right next door. People gamble there around the clock, and many a person has gambled away their fortune and suspected that things were not quite right. Ridolfo's café becomes a center of attraction for people with abysses. Eugenio, a once wealthy merchant, even pawns his wife's earrings to pay his debts. The respected citizen Don Marzio causes a lot of mischief with his slander. And the supposedly noble Leandro turns out to be an accountant who pursues his gambling addiction under a false identity.

The women bear the brunt of their escapades and end up picking up the pieces of their existence. Ridolfo wants to help them and takes on the role of a mediator who has to mediate at every turn. This is not how he had envisioned his new career as a barista. And even though everyone is finally even, it is clear that the peace will not last long.

Carlo Goldoni lived from 1706 to 1793 and is considered the reformer of the Italian comedy. From the commedia de'll arte, he developed the character comedy, whose characters are still drawn from the people, but are much more realistic and with great empathy. The prose comedy The Coffee House was first performed in Mantua in 1750.