Pinocchio, from the roots to the sky – sixth residency Playing Memories
For its sixth stop, Playing Memories returns home. The artistic residency and TV docu-series project for RaiPlay conceived and captained by Saint Louis College of Music – in co-production with the Alfredo Casella Conservatory of L’Aquila, the Fondazione Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan, RUFA and ISIA in Rome – will stop at Saint Louis’ Rome headquarters before moving to Nemi for staging and debut.
“Pinocchio – from the roots to the sky” is the title of the new residency, a new multidisciplinary project,
conceived by musician Emanuele Balsamo, which will engage the selected performers for two weeks.
In the theatrical/musical reinterpretation of Carlo Collodi’s masterpiece, the world-famous wooden puppet becomes a representation of contemporary chaos, in which lack of direction results in disorder, misadventure, and death.
In order to become human, Pinocchio must learn to see everything in him that is mechanical, that responds to the stresses of life without awareness, and follow that path that will enable him to go beyond himself: remaining machines moved by accidental happenings, and of this very deeply the fairy tale speaks, nothing good can really happen.
Central to this is in fact the reference to school: Collodi seems to speak to us not so much of a school to which
submit to be in line with what is good for social culture, as much as of a system of knowledge in which our more capricious nature, incapable of will, recognizes that there may be a new way of living, a wider universe, to which therefore, making an effort, it consciously chooses to
point.
To become human, Pinocchio must find that School and Master capable of making him
discover what really has to do with one’s innermost nature.
And indeed, final proof will be love for each other. Nothing more. That’s what ultimately makes us human.
The plot, already rich in suggestions, is here deepened in its more grotesque (the Cat and the Fox, the Shark, etc.) and salvific (the Blue Fairy, the Jiminy Cricket) nuances, staged through
specially created masks during the days of the residency.
This is amplified by a musical repertoire with strong evocative and fairy-tale power: music
Renaissance-or more generally so-called early music-whose style, in some respects simpler than in other historical periods, allows for a fascinating reworking of the material with a contemporary ensemble, including electronic elements.
Music thus takes a central role, explored in different dimensions and combinations, in dialogue
With the performance skills of the actors/dancers.
These interpret portions of the original text, placing them side by side with an interweaving of expressive languages, in which poetics and stage action merge.
As in every residency, the performance will be offered in two replications. The premiere will be held at the “Straw Theater,” in the enchanting setting of Lake Nemi, near Rome: an outdoor venue,
particularly congenial to the existential spirit of the work, immersed in nature and surprisingly “out of the world,” despite its proximity to the city.
The second replication will take place in Kazakhstan, where, thanks to a partnership with the leading academy
of art in Almaty, the prestigious T.K. Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts, the show
will take shape in a new setting, at the Uyghur Theater.
