Il tabarro

About the show

As stevedores unload Michele’s barge on the Seine, his wife Giorgetta grows close to Luigi, a stevedore. Michele refuses her request to bring wine to the workers and becomes increasingly estranged from her. Luigi asks to be dismissed but later admits that he and Giorgetta plan to meet after dark and escape together. Michele remembers their dead child and the days when he could shelter his wife beneath his cloak. Suspecting her infidelity, he lights his pipe; Luigi mistakes the glow for Giorgetta’s signal and returns to the barge. Michele confronts him, forces him to confess the affair, strangles him, and hides his body under his cloak. When Giorgetta returns, Michele reveals Luigi’s body.