The review concludes, we need a flower – families at the theatre
Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th May (6.30pm and 8.30pm – entry 8|6 euros – info and reservations 3208607996|3207087223|3403129308) in the former Augustinian Convent in Lecce, in collaboration with the OgniBene Library and the Municipality of Lecce, With four eagerly awaited performances of Hamelin, the review It takes a flower – families at the theatre, promoted by Factory Compagnia Transadriatica in the Theaters of northern Salento project, concludes. In fact, the show is back on stage in the Salento capital (recommended age from 5 to 10 years), inspired by the fairy tale “The Pied Piper” by the Brothers Grimm, produced by Factory Compagnia Transadriatica and Fondazione Sipario Toscana with the support of Segni new generations festival, winner in 2023 of the Eolo Awards and the Festebà Prize. Hamelin is an immersive journey into the fairy tale, a ritual that children and adults can perform on different levels and points of view. On stage Fabio Tinella with dramaturgy and direction by Tonio De Nitto, dramaturg Riccardo Spagnulo, original music by Paolo Coletta, voiceover by Sara Bevilacqua, puppets by Michela Marrazzi, sets by Iole Cilento, costumes by Lapi Lou and lights by Davide Arsenio. «Hamelin is a show as poetic as it is deeply political. Hamelin makes us reflect on the role of the artist in society and tells us how theater and art in general have enormous power and how freedom is very difficult to gain but very easy to lose”, says director Tonio De Nitto.
The story of the piper of Hamelin is still shrouded in mystery. Hamelin is the name of a town in northern Germany where legend and reality merged hundreds of years ago, where various hypotheses have never solved the mystery of the disappearance of 130 children, as reported in the plaque affixed to the so-called house of the mouse catcher . A news story gradually translated into a fairy tale, first in the oral tradition and then in the collection “Germanic Sagas” by the Brothers Grimm. In Hamelin there is still an absolute ban on playing music in Via Senzatamburi, where even the festive processions that arrive there immediately cease all sound. But what happened to the children of Hamelin? Where does reality end and fiction begin? The show tries to tell and retrace the origin of this mystery by playing on different levels that adults and children will be able to follow through a different point of view using a special device that brings the bodies of those watching into the scene in an interactive way. What might the freedom restored by the piper consist of today? The piper as an artist brings a different vision from that of adults, in which there is room for surprise and the rapture of beauty (things that belong to childhood). He is a figure that changes direction, because the kidnapping of him through music is a snatching of children from prohibitions, restrictions and too much protection that does not allow them to grow. At the same time, this character, who with his cart seems like a relic of the ancient traveling theatre, triggers a profound reflection on the role of the artist in society today.
It takes a flower – Families at the Theater is part of the Theaters of Northern Salento project, promoted by Factory Compagnia Transadriatica in collaboration with BlaBlaBla, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Puglia Region, Teatro Pubblico Pugliese, the municipal administrations of Campi Salentina, Guagnano , Lecce, Leverano, Novoli, Trepuzzi and the OgniBene Library of Lecce.
