Edda comes from Germany, but has relatives in Italy. You notice her as soon as you arrive in the auditorium. A dazzling smile that only her eyes reveal. An interesting accent.
An intrepid admirer of the company, Edda waited for the pandemic situation to calm down before boarding a plane to Italy.
The show starts. Edda laughs, laughs a lot, and you focus on her engaging laughter which unites with the children’s laughter.
Then the laughter dies down. In silence, the story of Ruggero begins.
The narrative becomes sadder and more real. Suddenly you find yourself overwhelmed by emotions and you focus on your own reactions, your own strong feelings. The difference of a child who “you try to make laugh when they look and observe you.”
Bianco su Bianco (White on White) is a story for children who are no longer children. It is the story of Ruggero’s imagination and his scars, of cigarettes extinguished by his father’s cruelty.
Ruggero as resistant as crystal.
Ruggero as strong as thunderstorms, those thunderstorms that wash away everything, filling you up and embracing you.
Ruggero playing at inventing new words and discovering the meaning of existing ones.
Ruggero and spaces. There are plenty of spaces here.
Enclosed spaces are more beautiful than open ones.
Ruggero and the architects: architects talk about spaces and design them. And people light them up in the most incredible corners.
And here space has no corners. And here space is full of light.
White as the clown’s make up who does not make you laugh. Like the colour of empty space. Like the colour of a wedding dress.
White like neon light.
A dreamlike narrative, a daydream of a possible reality.
Fantastic, surreal images. And an ending that ends well.
Alessandra Gabriele
Texts and videos narrating each show are the outcome of an active relationship which has been established with the spectators, in search of the identity of the “emancipated spectator”. The students of the Academy who created the project built a relationship with some of the spectators chosen from those present at the events, using post and email. They later created a translation of the show which took the form of words and images suggested by the spectators.
Who is the “emancipated spectator”?
According to Jacques Rancière, you are. It is us who, with “stories and performances, can help change something in the world we live in”.
Text and video of this article were realised on occasion of Bianco su Bianco by Compagnia Finzi Pasca at Teatro Vittoria in Rome on November 20, 2021 within Romaeuropa Festival and as part of AUDIENCE ON STAGE, fourth edition of BACKSTAGE / ONSTAGE ‘, a multimedia editorial project realised in a partnership between the Rome Fine Art Academy, Romaeuropa Festival and Arshake.
For the 2021 edition, BACKSTAGE / ONSTAGE, has moved its focus to concentrate on the spectators of the Romaeuropa Festival, their behaviour and way of relating to the performances, their interest and the effect that this produces. The survey was carried out transversally, covering the different performance genres at the festival, from dance to drama and music. AUDIENCE ON STAGE examined the entrances, lobbies and corridors of theatres, stalls, boxes, mobile phones and online event screens, searching for the gaze of the so-called emancipated spectator, i.e. he or she who finds a new kind of contact and closeness with others in the theatre, but also discovers a new connection with their own active existence.
Backstage / Onstage: the project is realised with a partnership between the Rome Fine Arts Academy, Romaeuropa Festival and Arshake
Credits 2021- AUDIENCE ON STAGE: Video: Walter Maiorino, Eleonora Mattozzi, Alessia Muti, Francesca Paganelli; Eleonora Scarponi. Testi: Chiara Amici, Domiziana Febbi, Alessandra Gabriele, Martina Macchia, Alessia Mutti.
