Diceopoli e il ‘Falso-Giusto’. Gli Acarnesi di Aristofane tra verità e finzione

The complex and ambiguous interactions between concepts such as true and false, fiction and reality – far beyond their simple opposition – seem to be common matters in some recent theatre productions, according to some well-known Italian critics (for instance Renato Palazzi) and they are often practiced by playwrights and directors who sometimes choose Aristophanes as inspiration (first of all, Marco Martinelli) as such themes frequently occur throughout his production; since the very first part of his oldest extant play, Acharnians, Aristophanes pays great attention to these issues and uses a wide variety of weapons (such as mockery, irony, disguise and disclosure), in order to mock his targets and to legitimate his genre, Ancient Comedy, as a few examples can show.