Puppets and high wire – Modifiche al Silenzio

For the whole of September there has been a small group of people moving about Barga Vecchia at strange hours of the day. None of them ever carried cameras or looked like the usual tourists during the summer season. If people tried eavesdropping on their conversation they would have heard a mixture of English, Italian and French being used by the group as they chopped and changed from language to language with apparent ease but probably the most disturbing aspect of this group was the fact that for a lot of the time there seemed to be a small dwarf in their midst.

Upon closer inspection the dwarf turned out to be a puppet who was being handled and carried by one or two members of the group. This morning things became clearer and we can now set the record straight. Who were these people?

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They were a group of artists from a co- production by the Assocciazione Sarabanda, Festival della Scienza Genova and in collaboration with Archos-Creac from Marsiglia France who were rehearsing inside the Teatro dei Differenti for a new stage production called “Modifiche al Silenzio” which will have its world premiere at the Festival della Scienza later on this month in Genova.

They were here rehearsing in Barga because of Amy Luckenbach who is collaborating on the project drawing on her vast expertise producing puppet theatre. The figure  that has been seen being carried around the city and is in fact essential to the whole show was a puppet created specially by her company Teatro Minimo. Amy and her puppets were last seen in Barga for the very successful A-Ronne and Novissimum Testamentum during the Opera by the Festival 2004 (article and images here )

The theatre company assembled by Boris Vecchio, who is also the lead actor in this piece, brings in a vast array of talent of various professions and countries.

Boris Vecchio is an actor/clown/mime (and that really should be “Clown” with a capital C) – as he follows the long tradition of performers with huge presence who manage to make even the most simple movements and gestures eloquent, poetic and imbibed with meaning.

Antonio Caporilli from Genova – well-known in his field as a dancer and mime artist but also noted for his installations and performance work (Associazione Culturale I Blu – site here)is instead this time working as one of the puppet animator’s along with:

Lital Tyano – originally from Israel but now based in Paris, where she attended the famous Marcel Marceau international mime school and runs her own puppet company.

Chloè Moura –  the  tightrope walker who trained with the circus school of Châtellerault, France

Modifiche al silenzio – La ricerca di un’armonia universale
Regia: Boris Vecchio,
Con Chloè Moura, Boris Vecchio
Testo e musiche di Marco Odino, (site here)
Burattino realizzato da Amy Luckenbach,
Impianto scenico: Nicola Bruschi,
Disegno Luci: Fausto Buonvini,
Collaborazione alla messa in scena: Amy Luckenback,
Animatori del burattino: Antonio Caporilli, Lital Tyano

Si ringraziano Cinzia De Lorenzi, Claudia Monti e Giuliano Fossati per l’apporto al progetto e il Comune di Barga per l’ospitalità.

Non esiste il silenzio, esiste soltanto la sua ricerca. Il silenzio assoluto è una pura chimera: anche credendo di ottenerlo, ascoltandolo, lo altereremmo con la nostra sola presenza, con il sangue che pulsa nelle vene, con il battito del nostro cuore. Anche non respirando, sentiremmo solo un silenzio modificato, filtrato dal nostro essere vivi. Piccole modifiche certo, ma sufficienti a vanificare il silenzio assoluto. Il primo passo del protagonista dello spettacolo è quindi chiedersi cosa lo spinga a cercare l’assenza di suono – un eden della mente. Dapprima le parole, in seguito assonanze progressive, poi le rime e infine una catarsi di versi che sommessamente lo portano per mano là dove il silenzio non è assenza di suono, ma presenza invisibile di un’armonia universale.

Una coproduzione dell’Assocciazione Sarabanda, del Festival della Scienza, in collaborazione con Archos-Creac di Marsiglia e con il sostegno di Marseille 2013

Antonio Caporilli –  Dal 1990 svolge diverse attività come insegnante, performer, regista, video- maker, ideatore di installazioni e di eventi artistici. Da anni sviluppa un’intensa ricerca sull’improvvisazione e sul movimento con persone di differente età e formazione. È attualmente interessato alla ricerca di luoghi e contesti non convenzionali che stimolino un modo diverso di concepire la danza. Il suo insegnamento ha una spiccata impronta personale in bilico tra il training attoriale, il movimento, la fisicità e il gioco. In qualità di assistente alla regia ha partecipato al Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte di Montepulciano, al Greek National Opera of Athens e al Fringe Festival di Edimburgo. È stato danzatore a: Festival dei Due Mondi di Spoleto, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Praga Europa Festival, Budapest Europa Festival, Teatro San Carlo di Lisbona, International Festival Theatre Dance of Pakistan, Festival Musica y Scena di Città del Messico, International festival of Arts & Ideas (New Haven) USA, The Place Theatre London. È stato mimo-danzatore a: Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Filarmonico di Verona, teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro Stabile di Genova, Teatro Stabile di Catania, Teatro Biondo di Palermo, Teatro dell’Opera di Wiesbaden, teatro dell’Opera di Lille. Ha lavorato con i seguenti registi e coreografi: Jerome Savary, Giorgio Strehler, Robert Wilson, Mario Missiroli, Luca Ronconi, Lorenza Cantini, Giancarlo Corbelli, Hugo De Ana, Graham Vick, Liliana Cavani, Nikolaus Lehnoff, Daniele Abbado, Bill T. Jones, Virgilio Sieni, Adriana Borriello, Enrica Palmieri, Karin Elmore, Roberto Lun, Ronald Howell, Amy Luckenbach, Sean Walsh, Sarah Fahie.

Amy Luckenback – In 1996 Amy Luckenbach created Teatro Minimo, a Florence based puppet theatre, whose work is a collaboration between the world of puppetry and that of music. In July of the same year the 52nd edition of the Settimana Musicale Senese saw the debut of this theatrical company with A-ronne, the result of a collaboration between Luciano Berio and Amy Luckenbach. A-Ronne subsequently appeared at the Venice International Festival of Contemporary Poetry, the Semoneta Festival, the Milano-Musica Festival (for La Scala), and the Festival Présences in Paris. The group’s second production, Novissimum Testamentum: un ritratto di Edoardo Sanguineti based on Sanguinetti’s poetic self-portrait in verse, premiered at the Piccolo Regio of Turin for “Settembre Musica”, and subsequently has been performed in conjunction with A-Ronne at Centro Tempo Reale (Florence), the Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Rome) for the Association Amici di Santa Cecilia, the Festival of New Music of Macerata, and the Festival Internazionale Musica y Escena di citta del Messico. In 1999 the groups’ production of Paisiello’s “Serva Padrona” was presented by Teatro Comunale of Florence at Teatro Goldoni. They also performed at the Opera Barga festival 2004 – many images can be seen here

Future productions are currently being developed and include collaborations with Luciano Berio, Phillip Glass, Betty Olivero, and Maurice Sendak.

Boris Vecchio – appeared in and directed another work for theatre by Marco Odino – Temp NON lineare (site here)

Lital Tyano – est mime et comédienne. Elle a été formée en Israël (École Nissan Natov à Jérusalem) et en France (École internationale de mimodrame Marcel Marceau).

Chloè Moura – L’Ecole de Cirque de Châtellerault 2002/3 – (site here)

Click on the link below to hear Amy Luckenback talking about this theatre production (in English)

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