Also this summer, on August 11, he returns to the scene “Agate Virgin and Martyr” from Pine Fish. It returns to you within the summer program of Massimo Bellini Theater of Catania and specifically to honor the Patron Saint Etnea on the occasion of the summer festival of August 17 which celebrates the transfer of the relics of Agata from Constantinople to Catania in 1126 by two Byzantine soldiers.
“I am very happy ” declares the superintendent of the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, maestro Giovanni Cultrera di Montesano “To have included the religious drama“ Agata, Vergine e Martire ”by Pino Pesce in the summer events of the“ Bellini ”. Appreciating its artistic and religious value, it is the intention of the Teatro Massimo to go further, institutionalizing the event so as to insert it in a schedule that re-proposes the representation in the two annual festivals dedicated to the Patron Saint: the main one in February and the summer one on 17 August. “
Over 50 artists for an out-of-the-box operation which has combined multimedia techniques and medieval theatricality with the precise socio-cultural-religious message of reaching the hearts of the people, especially the younger ones to whom the author-director particularly addressed.
Clarifies Fish: “I tried, leaving the canons of current theater, to go back in time, recovering the sacred medieval representation through a Manichaean vision, the struggle between good and evil, typical of ancient Middle Eastern and Western cultures, transferring it into the Catholic mentality to make good triumph for you. A dualistic cosmological conception, where Christian spirituality raises its own banner of acceptance and love. And this also within Manzoni’s provident misfortune. “
Says Chiara Seminara, interpreter of Agata: “I am very happy to be back on stage to give voice and tell, together with the rest of the cast made up of excellent artists, the life and martyrdom of Sant’Agata, on the occasion of the Agatine Augustan celebrations that finally after two years fully reopen to the faithful ( which makes it all the more meaningful). The ancient sources of Agata’s life hand down intense moments, many of these passages are faithfully reproduced, almost word for word, throughout the show. What strikes me is that Agata is a very current figure in the human testimony that she still offers, a symbol of great freedom and courage. “
On stage, as well Chiara Seminara, Mario Sorbello (Quinziano), Pasquale Platania (Narrator), Nino Spitaleri (Old), Gabriele Ricca (St. Michael the Archangel), Jonathan Barbagallo (Lucifer), Antonella Barresi (Agata’s mother), Cora Torriani (Dancer); Annalisa Di Lanno (First witch) and then: Except Gambino And Francesco D’Arrigo (Two executioners), Rasheed Bello And Franco Caruso (Imperial soldiers). Sacred music performed by a string quartet will have particular relevance: Salvatore Randazzo, Clelia Lavenia, Dario Emanuele C. Militano And Mario Licciardelloand 4 opera singers: Rosario Cristaldi (tenor), Martina Scuto (soprano), Angelo Sapienza (low) e Haruna Nagai (mezzo soprano). Particular importance will also be given to the dancers of the Professional Blue Dance School directed by the teacher Alfio Barbagallo, choreographer of the sacred representation; the videos have been adapted from Alfio Cosentino; the readjustment of costumes from Rosy Bellomia.
“The expressive and suggestive power of a narrator – the Author points out – blends history and legend which, in some places, is interrupted by scenes on Agata’s life: childhood, adolescence, youth, centered on the young woman’s decision to promise herself to God. Hence the Christian persecution of ’emperor Decius (represented, in Catania, by the proconsul Quinziano), who, unable to possess it, condemns the Virgin to prison first and to martyrdom later. “
A lot is expected spectacularity And devotion.
“Agata, Vergine and Martire” by Pino Pesce at the Palazzo della Cultura in Catania