Filumena

About the show

The curtain opens on Domenico Soriano, 50, a wealthy Neapolitan shop-keeper who is raging against Filumena, 48, a former prostitute. They have lived together for many years (but with him frequently having trysts with other women). Now, when he was intending to marry the younger Diana, Filumena has tricked him into marrying her instead: she pretended to be dying, and so coaxed him into a marriage in articulo mortis, but as soon as they were married she sprang up from her bed to send away Diana, whom Domenico had disguised as a nurse to have her nearby. Filumena reveals her reason for wanting to be Domenico's wife: she wants him to legitimise her three sons (Umberto, Michele and Riccardo) who have grown up in foster care and have no idea of who their mother is. Domenico is not going to have any of this, and briefs his lawyer Nocella to have the marriage declared null and void. When the lawyer explains to Filumena that he'll easily win the case, she accepts the failure of her ruse, but tells Domenico that one of the three young men is actually his child, then leaves him. Ten months later, with all his attempts to find out which of the three young men is his son having failed, Domenico remarries Filumena, accepting all three as his sons. In the play, Filumena memorably tells Domenico that "children are children, and they're all equal" (I figli sono figli e sono tutti uguali).