Emma Dante: IL FESTINO
MY BIRTHDAY
Emma Dante has already attended the Mladi levi festival in 2003 with the performance Carnezzeria, a cruel family drama, where incestuous relationships, unwanted pregnancy and abuse are shouted out in a Sicilian dialect. The author and her works are strongly influenced by her milieu, the performances by Emma Dante are paraphrases and also a settlement with Sicily, the land of sun and happiness, celebration, fragrant food and beautiful people, but at the same time also a land of cruel living conditions, island closemindedness, twisted relationships and traditional values. Difficult themes, a dark atmosphere and unusuall energy are framed by virtuosity and expressiveness.
Il festino is continuing the “family stories”, it is a solo, Gaetano Bruno is Paride, celebrating his 39th birthday. His twin brother is gone and Paride is changing roles, he is himself and at once also his brother. Through the dialog between the brothers we can reconstruct the family story about the brother in the wheelchair, the father that left them, the punishment of being locked into a cupboard … And Paride learnt to deal with the punishment even as a child, the brooms in the cupboard intimidated him at first, now they are his partners in cha cha cha.
Author and director: Emma Dante
Performer: Gaetano Bruno
Lighting design: Antonio Zappalà
Production: Sud Costa Occidentale
Producer: Fanny Bouquerel
In cooperation with: Festival delle Colline Torinesi, Nuovo Teatro Nuovo
The performance is in Italian.