'LidOdissea' on stage at the Teatro Civico in Sinnai on March 8th
The charm of ancient myths intertwines with the complexity of contemporary reality in 'LidOdissea', a show by and with Gianfranco Berardi (2018 Ubu Prize winner for Best Actor for 'Amleto Take Away') and Gabriella Casolari, who sign the dramaturgy and direction with the precious collaboration of Argentine artist César Brie and share the stage with Ludovico D'Agostino and Silvia Zaru, with lighting design and technical direction by Mattia Bagnoli, costumes by Giada Fornaciari, and set decorations by Sara Paltrinieri, musical elaborations by Ludovico D'Agostino, assistance by Alice Faella, and lights and music by Antonio Bianco. The production is by IGS APS, Fondazione Luzzati Teatro della Tosse, Teatro Stabile Friuli Venezia Giulia, Manifatture Teatrali Milanesi - MTM Teatro, Accademia Perduta - Romagna Teatri SCRL, and the Municipality of Bassano del Grappa, with the support of MiC / Direzione Generale Spettacolo, the Centro di Residenza della Toscana (Armunia - CapoTrave/Kilowatt), and the Municipality of Sansepolcro.
The original piece, freely inspired by the famous poem by Homer, the legendary singer of the exploits and adventures of the Greek hero among the warlords engaged in the Trojan War, returning to his Ithaca - and not by chance the characters are named Ulysses, Penelope, and Telemachus and are accompanied by a modern bard - will be on stage on Thursday, March 6 at 8.30 pm at the Teatro TEN in Nuoro for the SardegnaTeatro Season, Friday, March 7 at 9 pm at the Teatro Astra in Sassari for the Festival Etnia and Teatralità of the Teatro Sassari Company, and finally Saturday, March 8 at 8.30 pm at the Teatro Civico in Sinnai for the Theatrical Season 2024/2025 'Molti Sguardi' with artistic direction by Maria Assunta Calvisi. It addresses the theme of restlessness 'in a society that wants us everywhere at the same time, increasingly faster, but with less and less time available.'
'LidOdissea' - written during the pandemic period of social distancing and lockdown - starts again from the fantastic adventures of a veteran, prisoner of the will and whims of the gods, meeting with seductive and dangerous creatures, cyclops and sirens, horrible monsters, beautiful nymphs and powerful witches, to propose a family portrait, in the suspended atmosphere of a holiday in some seaside resort. Three emblematic figures - a man, husband and father, a woman, wife and mother, and their son - on whom the situations and entanglements of the epic poem reverberate, reinterpreted with contemporary sensitivity: Ulysses, Penelope, and Telemachus 'between flashbacks and flashforwards relive and tell the mythological journey, transforming it into an inner journey to discover the limits, difficulties, and paradoxes of contemporary society.'
On stage, true and invented stories take shape and blend, revealing the loneliness of the myth characters - Ulysses in his wandering at sea, far from his homeland, sick with nostalgia but unable to find the way back home, Penelope, intent on weaving and undoing indefinitely a web to preserve the chamber and the throne, but also Telemachus, waiting for an unknown father, absent in the days of his childhood - transforming them into archetypes of a condition often more metaphysical, mental and spiritual, in which even surrounded by a crowd, one feels isolated and misunderstood. In a beach resort, the protagonists together with the bard find themselves facing themselves, their doubts, and their fears 'struggling with a space and time in which they cannot find themselves', experiencing on their own skin the measure of their inadequacy and the inevitability of their failure, for the impossibility of meeting their own and others' expectations.
'LidOdissea' delves into family dynamics, amidst the ambiguity of blood and affection ties and the subtle games of more or less conscious power within the domestic walls: temporarily 'confined' in a foreign place, the protagonists away from prying eyes and the curiosity of relatives, friends, and acquaintances, ideally expose themselves, exhibit their wounds and vulnerability, question their destiny and the meaning of life. The reassuring and consoling image of a quiet couple on vacation with the young heir underlies the delicate and complicated balances on which the exterior order is based, in every existence lights and shadows, joys and sorrows compensate each other, and the four individuals gathered here carry their own baggage of memories, together with unresolved knots, conflicts, lost illusions, and disenchantment. What happens by the sea, in that oasis of hypothetical peace, is nothing but the manifestation of passions and moods, revolts and dormant desires: in the stage writing, there is a constant reference to ancient myth, in its modern reinterpretation, where experiences and emotions belonging to the actors' lives feed the imagination and give credibility and authenticity to the creatures of fantasy. 'In this world where human error is always a fault and numbers count more than words; where every action must be performative, aimed at achieving a goal and the other side of the coin is always and only failure' - reveal the authors - 'the protagonists recall encounters with extravagant characters, hilarious and tragic episodes, paradoxical and grotesque situations, grappling with all their inadequacies in the face of the contemporary world.'
'LidOdissea' - with the (self)ironic and irreverent, but also poetic and poignant signature of the Berardi Casolari Company - through the figure of a blind bard, like the legendary Homer, recalls the importance of being able to look beyond the surface, learning to distinguish between being and appearing and overcoming conventions and fears, to understand one's aspirations beyond the models imposed from the outside, to regain self-awareness and a taste for freedom.
Theatre Without Barriers - 'LidOdissea' also includes live audio description, thanks to a project by the Berardi/Casolari Company in collaboration with the Civica Scuola Interpreti e Traduttori Altiero Spinelli and the App Converso® by Donato Velardi: interested spectators can directly benefit from it using their smartphone and personal headphones. New technologies make theatre increasingly accessible and inclusive, allowing the audience to follow events through personalized forms of fruition, and thus share stories and emotions.
