By Astrolabio
Photo by Archivio Astrolabio
‘Theatre’ is a word that encompasses a world apart: physical place, communicative event, artistic experience, scenic space, actors, opera, dramaturgy. For Pirandello, theatre was life itself, a place where the illusion of social masks was created; because every day man wears a thousand different masks in his daily life. For the great Pirandello, theatre staged the contrast between inner life, drives and conventions in which the individual is forced to live. In ancient Greece, tragedy was considered a kind of ‘collective therapy’ that allowed liberation from negative emotions, creating a sense of peace.
The Astrolabio Cultural Association opened up to the theatre in 2010 thanks to the entry into the team of Anna Ianunzio, a young woman who loves poetry and theatre. The first theatrical work for which he wrote the text was “Alda Merini, punto e a capo”. It is a simple show, without scenography, consisting of four women, one of whom is a girl who plays the accordion. The show receives positive acclaim. It is only the beginning of a journey, it is a challenge that the Association welcomes with enthusiasm.
Anna seeks collaborations with other people in the area who, in the same way, love to organize events to try to create a tool of deep social, cultural and civil connection. In cooperation with musicians ‘for passion’ and non-professional artists, she stages the show “From the belly of the horse”. A show that deals with the Trojan War – it is a pretext to bring reflection on the absurdity of war, to give voice to women, to shake consciences asleep in the face of violence, abuse, injustice.
In the meantime, within the Association, a group of women of different ages takes shape: from 24 to 75 years old who begin to participate in the shows. At first, the most frequent attitudes denoted insecurity and inadequacy for the role of actresses, then slowly, every night at the rehearsals of the show, each one was there with the desire to try and try again, with the fear of making mistakes, of appearing clumsy, ridiculous, with the difficulty of managing words and movement together.
For Anna, theatre is like a mirror of reality: it is a tool for reflection and therefore she begins to stage shows that deal with the issue of violence against women, emphasizing verbal violence, the unspoken, the transversality of violence that involves every social class.
The shows “ScegliSempreTu@Libera.it” and “The distorted mirror of fairy tales” were born with this intent. Or in other shows there is research to put together the history of women in the 50s, female emancipation, hopes, the difficulties of being women. All this is present in the show “Upside Down Balance”, where we talk about a tailor’s shop within which the theme of work at Lebole is addressed, we talk about illness and healing, the strength and tenacity of women are highlighted. Written and staged a year before director Ozpetek brought the film “Diamanti” to the cinema, the show anticipated the subject by making the theme very topical.
The exhibition that the Association has brought and continues to stage at this time is the first that Anna Ianunzio had written and directed: her great love for poetry returns and stages “Born on March 21”: again the focus on the poet Alda Merini, again the centrality of the disease, of violence, of redemption, highlighting the strength of women and the salvific role that art has in people’s lives.
Acting, for the women of the Astrolabio Cultural Association, has become a strength, it is trying to be, as Gabriele Lavia says, “as little bad as possible, since being good is impossible, because it is too difficult”.
Theatre for Anna Ianunzio reflects life, because life in itself is already theatre. “Theatre is the most important thing that man has invented, that is, to tell the story of man, through man, in front of man” (Gabriele Lavia).
And this is precisely what the Astrolabio Cultural Association is trying to do with its shows, with its artists, enhancing their attitudes and inclinations. But this is another story, another initiative of the Astrolabio Cultural Association: ‘Spring of Artists’ that we will be able to read in a future article in the spring issue of Valley Life.
Info: Astrolabio Cultural Association
Via Umberto I, 12, 53048 Sinalunga (Si)
Tel.339 7622176
www.astrolabiocult.it / astrolabiocult@gmail.com
