The theater is often seen as a “square”, agora, meeting place: the new project by Teatro della Pergola in Florence and Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, which will have its first Florentine application on May 11th from 3pm to 8pm in Piazza della SS. Annunziata and in the nearby cloister of the former monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli (all activities are free).
The Pergola in the Square aims to make the squares the center of a reflection that also raises questions about what it means to do theater today. It aims to create new lines of thought, to connect different places in the world, to bring different disciplines into dialogue. Some of the projects that the Pergola and the Théâtre de la Ville have developed together over time will be shown in the square, like them Poetry Consultations and Ping Pong Poetry. The peculiarity is that there will be a direct connection throughout the afternoon between Florence and Paris: le images of the square will be sent live to Paris, and there will be the possibility of carrying out poetic consultations between the two cities in both directions, with the consultant in Florence and the consultee in Paris, and vice versa.
Together with these events, it will take place in the square The fairytale bench, the project created in collaboration with the Uffizi Galleries.
In the Cloister, in collaboration with the National Association of War Mutilated and Invalids, Florence Section, space for open lessons on the mime method by the Center for Introduction to Expression of the Teatro della Toscana and the Divine Comedy. Readings from Dante with readings from the songs of the Divine Comedy and poets linked to Dante’s themes (Campana, Elliot, Rebora, Buzzati).
All this as part of a network of urban spaces that unites, in addition to France and Italy, Romania, Kosovo, Tunisia and Cameroon, in a system of “world squares” that magnifies the power of what comes proposed at the local level.
The program will ideally close at 9pm with the penultimate performance of PESSOA – Since I’ve been me, Robert Wilson’s show which fits, in planning and material terms, into the varied set of relationships between Pergola and the Théâtre de la Ville.
The Poetic Consultations they represent a “poetic” solidarity celebrated first on the telephone, in the most difficult months of the pandemic, and then in person, in the parks, gardens, universities and theaters of Europe. Recently, the Teatro della Pergola brought the Poetic Consultations to Tunis on 7 and 8 December 2023, on the occasion of the Journées Théâtrales de Carthage, in collaboration with the Théâtre de la Ville and the Théâtre National de Tunisie, and to Florence for the first time also in a social and health care facility, the ASP Firenze Montedomini, on 15 December 2022, renewing last year’s commitment on the occasion of the Solidarity Christmas. The project of Consultations, launched in January 2020, continues to bring together artists and cultural institutions in Europe and around the world. To date, it has mobilized more than 250 artists of 28 nationalities, united in one ensemble: the Grande Troupe de l’Imaginaire. 18 countries are partners in the initiative and so far over 30,000 consultations have been held worldwide. The Teatro della Toscana is the first international theater to engage in the project, in May 2020, and to date ten Italian artists are part of the Grande Troupe.
Ping Pong Poetry is a project also the result of the partnership between the Pergola and the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris and which was born in the context of a set of artistic actions based on the alliance between disciplines, between sport and culture, accessible to artists, professional athletes and amateurs. Starting from the idea of building a real coexistence between the game of ping pong and the verses of a poem, the players are sent to experiment with the synergy between physical activity and intellectual activity. Invited to play a game where the rules of the sports game mix with those of the metrics of poetry and language, the players are faced with the fact that hitting the ball on the accent of the word or reciting a verse can be winning tactics as much as a well placed round shot. Through the creation of a physical and poetic exchange that favors the relationship between psychomotor and emotional activity, Ping Pong Poetry is a project on listening, on the ability to adapt the rhythm of the text to the rhythm and precision of the gesture and on the ability to observe .
The project The fairytale bench, created in collaboration with the Uffizi Galleries, it combines education on artistic and landscape heritage with the development of the creative and expressive abilities of high school students. An educational journey inside and outside the classroom, which will lead the students of the Liceo Pascoli and the Fiorentine Pious Schools to become narrators of stories of ancient mythology for the young audience of residents, school students and occasional visitors to Piazza della SS. Annunziata.
The events in Piazza della SS. Annunziata will be in a continuous cycle; the meetings in the Cloister of the former monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli will approximately follow the following schedule:
3.30pm – 4.15pm Open lesson on mimic method
4.30pm – 5.15pm Divine Comedy. Readings from Dante
5.30pm – 6.15pm Open lesson on the mimic method
6.30pm – 7.15pm Divine Comedy. Readings from Dante
