“The Last King of Porn”, interview with Alessandro Onorato

“The Last King of Porn”, interview with Alessandro Onorato

“It was a challenge, but I loved it”.
This is how Alessandro Onorato summarises all the process behind his last play “The last king of porn”, on stage from the 29th July in London, in Edinburgh and then on September in Milan. It’s a new work for Onorato: this is the first time for him writing a script set in the porn industry. The show talks about the story of Randy Fierce, an old porn actor who decides to have sex with 100 women all in one day, and he hopes, by doing this, to make a historical record. The play is held by three women and their thoughts and worries while they are waiting to meet Randy. This ambitious work fatally moves to a family drama.

The script and the direction are by Onorato and Gaia Magni: the cast is composted by bilingual actors as Alberto Baraghini, the main character, while Sara Dho, Alessandra Savoldi, and Laura Traina perform the female characters. The audience will have the opportunity to attend the show watching a stage divided into two parts: in one we always find the three women, in the other we will see what is happening in Randy’s room, through a play of shadows.

Alessandro, how the idea to talk about porn was born?

“This is an idea that i’ve had in my mind for 3 or 4 years. For me, it was a challenge that has become reality. The idea to tell a story about this world has always fascinated me. In particular, I was inspired by the Chuck Paulaniuk novel “Snuff”, in which it is narrated the story of a porn actress who wants to have sex with 600 men. I wanted to do something like this, but with a man as the main character”.

The shadow-play is very interesting. How did you decide to do that?

“Today nudity is very common in theatre. There are some shows in which everything is performed on the stage. I asked my self what can I do to create something new and I thought that would be a peculiar choice to not show any nude, even if the main topic is porn. In this way, the shadow play offered me the opportunity to make the audience understand what is happening, without seeing it explicitly”.

What kind of reactions to do expect by the audience?

“I think in the UK this show will not create a strong sensation because the audience has a different culture from Italy, where people cou
“It was a challenge, but I loved it”.
This is how Alessandro Onorato summarises all the process behind his last play “The last king of porn”, on stage from the 29th July in London, in Edinburgh and then on September in Milan. It’s a new work for Onorato: this is the first time for him writing a script set in the porn industry. The show talks about the story of Randy Fierce, an old porn actor who decides to have sex with 100 women all in one day, and he hopes, by doing this, to make a historical record. The play is held by three women and their thoughts and worries while they are waiting to meet Randy. This ambitious work fatally moves to a family drama.

The script and the direction are by Onorato and Gaia Magni: the cast is composted by bilingual actors as Alberto Baraghini, the main character, while Sara Dho, Alessandra Savoldi, and Laura Traina perform the female characters. The audience will have the opportunity to attend the show watching a stage divided into two parts: in one we always find the three women, in the other we will see what is happening in Randy’s room, through a play of shadows.

Alessandro, how the idea to talk about porn was born?

“This is an idea that i’ve had in my mind for 3 or 4 years. For me, it was a challenge that has become reality. The idea to tell a story about this world has always fascinated me. In particular, I was inspired by the Chuck Paulaniuk novel “Snuff”, in which it is narrated the story of a porn actress who wants to have sex with 600 men. I wanted to do something like this, but with a man as the main character”.

The shadow-play is very interesting. How did you decide to do that?

“Today nudity is very common in theatre. There are some shows in which everything is performed on the stage. I asked my self what can I do to create something new and I thought that would be a peculiar choice to not show any nude, even if the main topic is porn. In this way, the shadow play offered me the opportunity to make the audience understand what is happening, without seeing it explicitly”.

What kind of reactions to do expect by the audience?

“I think in the UK this show will not create a strong sensation because the audience has a different culture from Italy, where people could have more reactions. I hope at least one person will stand up and leave the theatre. In this case, I would have reached my goal: to cause strong reactions. If no one will do that, it means I could have dared more”.

It’s very singular the choice to divide the stage into two parts

“Yes, I wanted to give the audience the opportunity to watch two different worlds at the same time. In particular, I decided to present this show only in small theaters, hence the audience will be very close to the stage and they will have the sensation to be part of the show as if they are waiting to enter in Randy’s room”.

To whom were you inspired for the main character?

“I’m from Italy and for this reason, of course, Rocco Siffredi has inspired me. I wanted to describe Randy as the classic Italo-American stallion. In our country, a porn actor is more paid than the female ones, while in other countries this does not happen. In this show, with a strong female presence, I would display this appearance”.

In a personal way, how was the approach with a screenplay like this?

“The first time on the stage this show seemed grotesque for me, but in a positive way. The shadow movements made me think I had exaggerated. But then I changed my opinion and now I’m very confident the audience would like it”.

Which was the main difficulty you had?

“The main problem was to find the best way to show nakedness and porn. Once resolved that, through the shadow play, everything was easier. Gaia’s help was fundamental for me to write female dialogs: it was not easy for me. Gaia supported me a lot, adjusting the language to the various characters”

How did you resolve the differences between Italian and English language?

“I wrote in Italian then I translated into English and I translated one more time in Italian. I did this because the English language is lighter than Italian. Some words were translated into Italian in a different way to be less offensive.

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  1. Pingback: Interview with Alessandro Onorato by Matteo Serra | The Last King of Porn

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