From 9 to 18 December at Rainbow Theater of Rome, Stable Center of the Classical, tragedy returns to illuminate our contemporaneity, we talk about it with Alessandra Fallucchione of the protagonists together with Andrea Tidona, Roberto Turchetta, Carolina Vecchia. And with Lorenza Molina, Carlotta De Cesaris, Elisa Galasso, Chiara Scià. With the participation of Paul Lorimer in the role of Menelaus.
Clytemnestra and her baseless tales: tell us about her.
Clytemnestra in this play and in this marvelous and modern text by Euripides is not yet the avenging woman who has her husband killed that we know in the Oresteia. Here we see it loving mother and faithful and responsible wife, unaware however that she is about to accompany her daughter not to the altar, but to the slaughterhouse. When he discovers with amazement and even by chance this plot against Iphigenia he has to deal with a male world in which choices are all based on reasons of state and in which the voice and reasons of a mother have no weight. For this she goes from begging Achilles to help her using all possible strategies such as supplication, seduction and rhetorical speech to then directly confronting her husband / commander Agamemnon to whom she will spew all her contempt and to whom she will threaten an ominous return in homeland; hers is a hard and firm attempt to make him back down from his decision, vain attempt since Agamemnon will not give in to the motivations of the heart and family. The baseless fairy tales are those that she attributes precisely to her husband, of whom she herself fell victim first. It’s here a vulnerable and strong woman at the same time that the pain of the loss of her daughter matures an incurable hatred towards her husband.
Rewriters loves rewrites: what would you highlight in this one by Fabrizio Sinisi? Fabrizio Sinisi has a very happy pen and enormous wisdom in rewriting the classic texts. It translates the complexity of the classic while maintaining the poetic form but still making it more accessible to contemporaries and also more easily recitable for the actors. In this rewriting Sinisi eliminates the figures of the Messengers and the Old Men who come to bring letters or news, but builds the conflict between the main characters necessary to tell the unfolding of the actions, all the focus is on the internal conflict of the protagonists and the conflict between them, or between the different positions with respect to the sacrifice of Iphigenia. Then there is a dramaturgical choice that is the result of a directorial choice by Alessandro Machia and that is to make the messenger’s monologue at the end that tells the story of Iphigenia’s death, a monologue of Iphigenia herself who arrives veiled like a bride/ghost/saint… ..This idea of directing that Sinisi has embraced by rewriting that beautiful monologue with Iphigenia’s voice is in my opinion one of the strongest things about this rewriting. Rewriting designed and built in synergy with the director’s visionbecause the two things are inseparable.
How much do Euripides’ vulnerable heroes look like us today?
Very, very much! During the rehearsals, working on the text and on the dynamics between the characters, we realized how human, indeed very human are the heroes of Euripides, more anti-heroes actually. Euripides lowers the stature of these characters, all of them are presented in their smallness and human frailties, even and above all the most heroic of all, Achilles son of the Goddess Teti. The only figure that stands out clearly above all and truly has the features of a heroine, a Saint, a Savior of the People is the young Iphigenia. Clearly Euripides tells us about a generation of adults completely lost behind their own ambitions, desires, glory, the politics and your own personal gaindisguised as divine will or the will of the people, and instead reveals the courage, purity of purpose and profound spirituality in a young and innocent character. I find all of this very modern and topical for the reflections it entails: young people sacrificed on the altar of REASON OF STATE by overbearing, boastful and ambitious adults.
Machia’s direction does not shy away from comic accents: with what intent?
I can’t speak on behalf of the director but I believe that the intention is not to make people laugh for the sake of laughter in itself but rather to indulge in Euripides’ writing which lowers the characters and puts them in situations that reveal their inadequacy and inadequacy . It’s a bitter smile that Achilles or Agamemnon or Clytemnestra snatch from us, bitter for the price it entails: a human sacrifice. This space for a “comic” reverberation makes Euripides very modern precisely because he also recognizes involuntary comic aspects in the tragic, as indeed we can often continuously observe in our lives.
The Zerkalo company has been operating effectively for years: what are the conditions of your agreement?
The Zerkalo company owes its success primarily to the determination of Alexander Machia who is its founder and to important artistic collaborations (Edoardo Siravo, Paolo Graziosi, Andrea Tidona, Mascia Musy, Daniela Poggi and many others) and also to my involvement for the past 6 years as deputy artistic director and training director. We have managed to propose theatrical projects and initiatives that have had excellent appreciation and feedback and we have engaged with numerous calls for tenders and co-production projects, pursuing an interesting path also on actor training. We are now in a new phase with the recognition of the Ministry, a phase that heralds further growth and also the involvement of other personalities and artists. The agreement is above all artistic, that is, we have one vision shared of theater in which dramaturgy has a central place together with the actor. We propose a theater that aims at meaning and not at effects, that translates the words of the authors in the most effective and engaging way for the public. The playwrights we choose are obviously for us somewhat innovators of theatrical language and full of talent: Fabrizio Sinisi, Jon Fosse in primis and then also Alberto Bassetti, Massimo Odierna, Margaret Atwood, Ritzos….to name a few.
Euripides today: meeting with Alessandra Fallucchi, staged in Rome