Proposed in Catania by the Buio in Sala Company, it was written by Simone Santagati, who grew up at the school of Massimo Giustolisi and Giuseppe Bisicchia and also directed the film with the latter. Two actors on stage: Andrea Luvarà, very good, and Andrea Schillirò. Which leaves you speechless walking on the edge of un engaging text, moving effortlessly from one character to another, disguise after disguise.
Who knows why when wars loom, rulers begin to roll their eyes and speak in dogmas and generals begin to rant, those disguises that are at once dichotomies and symbiosis between being and seeming reappear in the theatre. In short, it happens when everyday life becomes more demeaning that everyone, in a Pirandellian way, he becomes a puppet on his own.
“Why is weird not okay? – asks Elodiva, protagonist of Alexandria proposed by Darkness in the Hall Company – Why does it have to become normal for people? I don’t want to be normal, I want to be a fucking queen and still do well”.
It was a truly beautiful piece of theater seen last Saturday on the stage of Spazio Bis, in the Leonardo Da Vinci multifunctional centre, as part of the event Young Looksdedicated to new dramaturgy.
Alexandria it was written by Simone Santagati, who grew up at the school of Massimo Giustolisi and Giuseppe Bisicchia and with the latter he also directed a show patchworkwhich expresses feelings, anguish, fears and exaltation as well as a very strong, desperate need to love and be loved, to tell and be told.
To exist.
Even if only in stage fiction. (“I’m not like you. I am not made of paper and ink, but I am like the sea. Transparent. Free“).
The plot is – apparently – simple: Alexandria is the name of a text written by a young man for his lover, Mister Effe (Andrea Luvarà), a director who, unable to make films, falls back on theatre.
The young man completes the script and disappears, leaving it to Effe, almost as if it were a will. And while he experiences this on the stage of a suburban theater cluttered with papers and symbolic scenic elements, between sheets on which clips of famous films are projected, the irresistible breaks in like a tornado. Drag Queen Elodiva.
Just as the Pirandellian Anselmo Paleari wore canvas underwear, he had bare feet in rocky slippers, a bare rosy torso… and a fervent foam turban on his headin AlexandriaElodiva (Andrea Schillirò), shows up in a miniskirt, red size 47 stilts, a cascade of golden curls and exorbitant make-up.
Not only that: picturesque and poetic, it brazenly pours out on the audience, like colorful fireworks in the night, lightning jokes, scurrilities, puns, ironies, theatrical coups and sarcasms. And this while Mister Effe feels sorry for himself, like many kids forced to deal with the chameleon-like ability to adapt of the previous generation.
They are both very good, the two Andreas.
But Schillirò, a tightrope walker capable of almost running on twenty centimeter heels, truly leaves one speechless as he walks, without any net underneath, on the edge of an engaging text, moving with ease from one character to another, disguise after disguise.
Until the touching “Do you ever feel this way? Always wrong. Uncomfortable. Out of place. Too much. Unwanted. Not included. Not invited… You’re not interesting enough. Not all stories deserve to be told.”
But no. All stories have the dignity of narration.
Above all “Romantic comedies. And I’m not talking about sophisticated stuff like Her or If You Leave Me I’ll Delete You. No, no, the cheesy ones… Harry, Meet Sally, Fifty First Kisses, Notting Hill. I’ve seen them all, twice… honorable mention if Julia Roberts is in the film”.
Elodiva’s response was inevitable: “Do you know that this information could be used against you in court? Julia Roberts… Are you sure you’re straight?”
In the room, a large representation of Arcy Gay applauds, bursting with laughter.
I like:
I like Loading…
