It is the use of reason that makes us dangerously “irrational”. […]
The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is a more violent world.

Hannah Arendt, Reflections on Violence

The image chosen to illustrate our 2022 Festival expresses its true sense. It was created by the Belgian artist Benjamin Verdonck, to whom we feel very close, since he has participated with his works in several editions of Inteatro.

In the image, which is a photographic trace of a performative action, the artist literally plants himself in the ground. He voluntarily gives up the possibility to “see” what is happening around him and thus to act, and hides his ability to form a judgement under the ground, self-excluding himself with respect to a reality that, since it is completely irrational, eludes any attempt to comprehend it. He opts for a transformation, becoming a tree, blending into nature and taking on its psychic behaviour. This poetic and “political” demonstrative action perfectly illustrates a Festival that aims to bring onto the stage the major issues of today’s world, mediated by the language of art.

The Festival opens with a work by Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas, not yet performed in Italy, entitled The Beginning. A residency, two workshops and two performances: this French-British duo’s previous work, The End, will also be presented, to get better acquainted with their original artistic research. This project also proposes a different conception of international hospitality, with a “slow” mobility, built on the relationship between the artists invited and the local community hosting them, leading them to be supported in a special project by the Arts Council.
Bert and Nasi’s work touches on universal themes, using a method of construction that maintains lightness and irony, calling on our emotional intelligence and our reserves of empathy to comprehend reality.

Another form of theatre based on states of mind instead of ideological convictions comes from Sotterraneo, who will debut The Angel of History. In their theatre, the spectator is able to grasp the connection between major issues, that leave us bewildered, and our everyday lives. This collective’s work is never abstract nor assertive, but relies entirely on the interaction between the performers. It thus suggests and proposes narrative links, through a procedure that politically reconstructs memory, inspired by Walter Benjamin’s constellations and unveilings.

The way in which past events and geopolitical upheavals come to bear on the present, changing each of our lives, is also the theme underlying the work of Korean artist Jaha Koo who, through his own biography, speaks of 20 years of Korean history. This narrative draws parallels with what is happening in the world right now and how old and new propaganda techniques are able to change the set of values of an entire society. In the case of this artist as well, we wished to delve into his original documentary theatre, by proposing a miniature solo show with two pieces: his previous work Cuckoo and his latest performance, Lolling & Rolling, in its Italian debut.

In Transfiguration, Olivier de Sagazan modifies and moulds his body in search of a possible metamorphosis, as part of a transformation that brings him closer to the mineral and animal world of nature. This radically re-founded identity involves a preliminary cancellation of the face and a questioning of one’s belonging to the human race.

The topic of identity and our political relationship with the time in which we live is also at the root of Liv Ferracchiati’s work, which proposes an unusual parallelism between walruses, who keep catastrophically rolling off the melting polar ice, and a personal disorientation concerning identity. The complex themes dealt with in Sci-Fi Theatre are diluted by a language imbued with levity and humour.
As usual, the Festival is an intellectual and emotional adventure, and is made up of unprecedented and singular proposals formulated by artists from the new generation, capable of interacting with the audience and getting it involved, by proposing new aesthetical and narrative points of view.

Dance will also express a desire to reinterpret reality using the language of the body, as proposed by Andrea Costanzo Martini in his whimsical and surreal PayPer Play; Salvo Lombardo, in his participatory action Let my body be!; Dewey Dell, in his exploration of our origins in myths and visual quotations in I’ll do, I’ll do I’ll do; Ludovico Paladini and Hardchitecture, in their ritual and tribalistic Thirteenth Generation. Rite of passage for people passing through; Gianmaria Borzillo, in his Under the Influence; and Claudia Caldarano, in her Piano solo, Corpo solo.

Lastly, an original proposal intended for families and children will take place in the magnificent setting of the Villa Nappi Park, which has always been the heart of the Festival: The Green Goose Game is a giant installation that invites visitors, through a playful language, to behave correctly in order to respect and preserve the natural environment.