Nine fragments of the theater of today/tomorrow. The selection made by is truly remarkable Theatrical Mass (very successful and meritorious announcement/initiative Theater Camp) Of 20 minute “tastings”. each (more debate) of a young theatre, made up of evident and astonishing talents of actors and authors, compared and “vivisectioned” (listened to, welcomed and nourished with gaze and attention we should say) in their motivations and urgenciesby a dedicated group theater makersthe first spectators called to listen and express emotions, opinions and evaluations (on the day/marathon of Saturday 8 June at the Campo Teatrale), for concrete productive help (both in terms of contingent feedbackboth in those of economic and residential contribution offered to the best): nothing amateur (no offense to those who enjoy it, mind you), all very alive, and each with its own distinct identityae directions mentioned or already well traced, often very promisingeven if practically all of them are obsessed (today’s thanatological trends or the old dark societies of art) with theme of death (suicide, mourning, violence on the bodies of History and Time, re-enactment of ghosts of the spirit, palingenetic challenges).
9 staged rehearsals, 9 dramaturgical essays, 9 plays in progressmaybe not all totally in focus, but all worthy of finding a development and a stagemany that I can’t wait to see in full in the theater, perhaps promoted in a theater system, the Italian one, which often hosts shows that are much more tired, lazy and empty than this budding concentration of much “good stuff”.
I do a little personal overviewin the form of pills, of photographs/impressions of the 9 projects presented, because it is worth keeping an eye on many of these realities, of which at least seven, I’d be willing to bet, promise special outcomesand it seems to me that not even the least convincing proposals at this stage, if nourished with passion and work, can reveal interesting results.
I will go in order of the list, and I will leave out the semaphore and always approximate summary of the vote (which we leave to the secret of the funerary urn?), influenced, as it is, too much by taste, idiosyncrasies and contingent. Although I don’t shy away from expressing an opinion. Overall: Enthusiasm. A really nice surprise.
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1. Fartagnan Theater – Death of an artificial intelligence
Despotic/ironic on the theme of the moment, in which clearly the future is a mask for our present, tells of a “smart ever” worker in full burnout dealing with synthetic servants and his (our) paranoia. Great and happy levity and intelligent quotationism, to talk about the technological and ideological prisons we inhabit. Original writing. Robots will not dream of sheep, perhaps, but (as Joël Pommerat also teaches with the recent Contes e légendes) they can certainly find non-trivial expression on the stage tables. Third dystopia from a group that (has) fun imagining with intelligent devices. ChatGPT used judiciously when writing. Webcam to keep pointed at them.
2. Creative Homes – Group work techniques
Also the young theater professor that faces middle school kids seems to hear voices (those of the prompts for the basic exercises of a theater workshop that try to direct it) and his revolutionary enthusiasmhis theatrical urgency they collide with the reality of the challenging and mirroring gaze of the times and of the parents, that of the young students. What is the meaning, then, of theatre? Can it still save lives and society? What is the spectator’s responsibility? How can it be activated and raised? In a monologue as dense and definitive as a gun pointed at the head (theoretical Chekhov, Beckett’s Happy days, Taxi drivers and Milo Rau’s Repetition that quotes Wajdi Mouawad come to mind) this piece assumes the power of a wake-up call which calls us from the theater to the world. Pietro Cerchiello – write it down, make a circle around it: 25 years, many things to say (too many?).
3. Francesca Gemma, Elena Scale, Alice Redini – He hung them
The sound of falling things was called a beautiful novel by the Colombian writer Juan Gabriel Vasquezand here the fall is the motion observed and told with grace, play and depth of the protagonists who, recalling the grotesque and revealing gallery of some female suicides, probe these and other precipices with irony and originality. A way of talking about death that reminded me a little of Luigi Squarzina’s diagonal and playful gaze (We are temporarily absent). Writing, timing and acting give the subject, objectively dark on paper, a non-judgmental shine and, unexpectedly, much more intimate and less detached than the “old-fashioned” tone (a little Miss Maisel, Mad Men, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Desperate Housewives) might initially suggest. I’m already working at a very good stage, I can’t wait to see it. Among those that struck me the most.
4. Paraguas Company – The walks
Santiago de Compostela: two free and brazen women walk freely and colorfully in (against) bigoted, gray and violent Francoism, and walking, in the place of the pilgrim’s devotional triumph, shows its subversive, paradoxical and resistant side. The story of these two Maries is one that intrigues and exalts. And the attempt to give substance to the scandalous strength of these women with the expressive power of theater in all its deformations (from Chinese shadows to marionettes, from phosphorescence to TV satire, from dance theater to transformism) is interesting. It’s a shame for a project that still remains too blurry and confused, and a little opaque and crowded to an Italian spectator who, given what he has seen, would need a few more captions to get into the story. To be fixed.
5. La Petite Mort Theater – Lobsters die from road accidents
Death in the title and in the name of the company (but also life, because the orgasm of the French and the lobsters that live infinitely indicate a re-generative path), which challenges the public with a story with a complex narrative architecture on identities, choices, on the measure of time, memory and imagination, between childhood and old age. From the connections/intersections staged and from the description of the project, something could come from the area of Sotteraneo, to name a group that we really like. Again a proxemic and a pose that is too static and vertical which only partially conveys the dynamism of the text and the intersections of planes. An infection of life is missing, but the road (ferrata?) is solid and we want to see where it will lead.
6. Nicola Lo Russo and Pietro Cerchiello – Summer of a Midnight Dream
“Dear (d)I”… Atheist prayer in the form of a surreal stand-up confession, this open mic on the edge of death plays with words to go in depth. We move around Bergonzoniwith accents of Antonio Rezza And Joel Dixin which the absurd wants and takes its part, without however turning into an exercise in style. 20 minute one man show works very well. It is not easy to imagine a much longer form-formula, but the stage and vocal presence of Lo Russo and the versatility and creative dramaturgical joy of Cerchiello (see already in point 2) give great hope.
7. RMN Group – Constellation Vicinelli
A way of doing theater that closely reminds me of the one I greatly admire and love Deflorian/Tagliariniwithout constituting its successor or a draft, but rather finding its own voice, here it is exercised on the figure of Patrizia Vicinelli, controversial Bolognese poet and performer who passed away early, reconstructed through fragments (sound slides) which build a gradual indicative paradigm of this artistic identity which thickens in our imagination. In the form of a commission called to evaluate the attribution of the annuity for conditions of necessity foreseen by the Bacchelli law (1985) for artists of clear fame but in dire straits, the show is a bare process on the stage which, with writing very attentive to the rhythm and sound texture, brings us closer through flashes, illuminationsand unexpected diagonals, a character unknown to many, who at every step you want to know and experience more. Between documentation and imagination, the balance of said and unsaid seems truly happy. For now, I immediately purchased Night and Day (Argo) out of extreme curiosity triggered by the scene, and I can’t wait to see the finished form of this gem of excavation/evocation of a voice. The strongest thing seen, on a day full of discoveries.
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8. Mathieu Pastore – Hypno. Short treatise on thanatopraxy
An ambiguous and invisible guest. Is it death? Is he dead? He seems to know a lot about how to take care of bodies. AND, through the mysteries of a profession, through places difficult to cross and process, we meet our ghosts, we give them body and clothing. With the lightness of dance and a Bauschi-like irony, Pastore recounts mourning in the mirror, opening the doors to a macabre and revealing dance, perhaps that of awareness. An interesting register and tone to talk about what we don’t feel like talking about.
9. Domesticalchemy – Ars Moriendi. The art of living
The theme, needless to say, it is still that of mourningthis time through the investigation of some death specialists. But the verbatim leaves room for invention, and we move from the defensive and slightly alienating tone of the somewhat stand-up conference in a manner, as seen, a little too quickly to a pathos confession that does not sound totally convincing. To be seen in its entirety, and edited, at this stage it seems to me to lack a sufficiently precise and sensitive voice that the delicacy of the topic requires. Not yet.
In short, budget, to the detriment of the dark themes, full of lights and lush sproutsbecause – as we know – burying also means fertilizing.
So good luck to these young productions. And long live the theater that is alive. Eyes open in the darkness of the room.
