sul doppio
[tab: Fabrizio Arcuri]
Last year, the bizarre investigation of contemporary cultures that is an essential aspect of Prospettiva2, produced a series of extremely disenchanted performances, characterised by a new, or perhaps we should say revamped, political approach. The abnegation of theatrical form, the elimination of any frills and often the lack of any stage sets, has reduced every stage action to critical rigour and the desire on the part of the artists to act contingently, in reality, in a significant here and now approach. The approach to the content that we will undertake in Prospettiva2 will prove very different. Different but complementary. We will discover that the traditional form of a play is no longer able to convey the complexity in which we live: the length of an act can only reveal a few aspects of our primary reality, which is expressed increasingly often in forms of self-representation. This is probably why many artists who are invited to make up this new programme share the “double format” of the latest productions. We are not referring to simple two-part plays or serials, but more generally of “doubles”: two works born without any precise link between them, not at all connected in terms of narrative continuity, but the fruit of the same creative and expressive effort and of the will not to adhere to univocal, two-dimensional performance models, demolishing the normal dynamics of relations with reality. We have always ended up by reflecting ourselves in the double, whether this is imaginary or declared, ending up with an intense calendar full of works in dialogue. And finally, as well as the theatre programme, this year the festival will again include numerous joint projects with the other events that will be held in Turin this Autumn – Club to Club, Musica90, Share Festival, and Incanti. And we will step up our collaboration with Torinodanza, responsible for the inclusion of Alain Platel’s latest two works in the Prospettiva2 programme, and with Sistema Teatro Torino e Provincia and Rigenerazione. Our important cultural partnership with the Rivoli Castle Contemporary Art Museum will produce Exhibition, Exhibition, dedicated to the double in the world of visual arts, completing and complementing the work of Prospettiva2. I close this long introduction by starting at the beginning, and dedicating a few more words to the prologue to the festival, an important stage – like certain author’s introductions to the essays and novels of younger writers – which will mark the first part of the collaboration between Teatro Stabile di Torino and the Volksbühne of Berlin. Two days of meetings and events dedicated to Bertolt Brecht and his Fatzer Fragment.
Fabrizio Arcuri | Prospettiva2
[tab: Mario Martone]
We could describe Prospettiva as the experimental motor of the Teatro Stabile di Torino season, the laboratory where audiences will encounter the theatre of the present, in an open, critical, extreme way. It is a decisive function for a theatre that wants to play its public role in full, turning its back for a moment on the rules of the market and set tastes, to examine new theatrical language scenarios around the world, in Europe, in Italy and in Turin. What we probably did not take into consideration when we launched the first edition with Fabrizio Arcura, was how exciting audiences would find this review. Not only the young, who certainly flocked to the theatres, performances and meetings, but a stratified, curious audience, confirming that Turin really is a great capital of contemporary art.
Prospettiva 2 (two for second, two for double) is an amazing review in terms of the quantity and quality of the works and artists involved, from Rodrigo Garcia to Jan Fabre, Leo Bassi, Ivo van Hove, Mark Ravenhill, Romeo Castellucci, Antonio Latella, Marco Martinelli, Alain Platel and others.
It has been made possible by fruitful alliances with some of the city’s most active cultural institutions, first and foremost the legendary Torinodanza, now firmly established as one of the strengths of Teatro Stabile. The success of a review like this at a time of economic crisis and cuts seems to me to be a sign of great vitality. Prospettiva is founded, not so much on large economic commitments, but on the talent and vision of Fabrizio Arcuri, on the impassioned professional skills of all the people who work at Teatro Stabile, and on the enthusiasm of its collaborators and volunteers.
Prospettiva is a political review, not in the ideological sense of the term, but because it triggers thought, creates discussion, and makes us think about the world we live in, even brutally, if necessary. We hope that spectators will continue this experience, this contact with new theatre, keeping their antennae vigilant, debating and taking a stand. There is a great need, and not only where the theatre is concerned.
Mario Martone
Mario Martone | Director of Fondazione del Teatro Stabile di Torino
