The story of a life that is ending in the words of a train driver who has run over a man that was purposely standing on the railway tracks.
Teatro Grassi
“Citizens without a state” is the common theme of the 20th edition of Tramedautore, which this year focuses on Italy and Italian artists, with a small international section including brand/new short texts by foreign writers.
“Even though this year will be characterised by a more intimate feel - write the organisers - the Festival will still be bringing together writers and artists who have shared this journey for so long, together with the various institutions that have accompanied them, first and foremost the Piccolo Teatro. Twenty years on, we still believe that the theatre can play an important role in metabolising the contemporary, in spreading knowledge and in promoting the growth of a community that we want to see increasingly diverse and inclusive”.
Questa lettera sul pagliaccio morto
A train driver hits a clown who was riding along the tracks in the opposite direction on a unicycle. In reality the man, Zebbo Brkyglash, deliberately let himself be hit by the train and, as he dies, he tells his story to the train driver. His mother is dead, the period that made him a man has passed, he had left the company and found a home in the only other place that a homeless and stateless man can live, the circus.
The “lettera (letter)” of the title is a result of the need for the train driver to explain to his superiors how the clown ended up under his train.
“Questa lettera sul pagliaccio morto (This letter on the dead clown) tells of a person who is given the task of recounting another person’s entire life, an enormous task - writes Davide Pascarella -. It tells the life of a man in the words of the one who knew him just long enough to hear his story before he died”. And through this life, the driver that collects his memories “finds a reason to open his eyes to everything that surrounds him: the air that he breathes, the beating of a heart, the meaning of death”.
Davide Pascarella (1997) is an actor, writer and director. He is attending the final year of the Acting School at the Teatro Stabile in Turin directed by Gabriele Vacis and Valerio Binasco. In 2017 he held the role of director’s assistant for Romeo e Giulietta ovvero la perdita dei padri by the Biancofango company at the Teatro Bellini in Naples. In 2018 he was among those selected by Antonio Rezza and Flavia Mastrella for the Theatre Biennial in Venice and collaborated with Mario Gelardi on the dramaturgy for Brucia l’Europa. In 2019 he made his acting debut in Hamlet, directed by Valerio Binasco at the Teatro Stabile in Turin. Questa lettera sul pagliaccio morto is his first work as writer and director.
Duration: 1h 10 minutes without interval
“Citizens without a state” is the common theme of the 20th edition of Tramedautore, which this year focuses on Italy and Italian artists, with a small international section including brand/new short texts by foreign writers.
“Even though this year will be characterised by a more intimate feel - write the organisers - the Festival will still be bringing together writers and artists who have shared this journey for so long, together with the various institutions that have accompanied them, first and foremost the Piccolo Teatro. Twenty years on, we still believe that the theatre can play an important role in metabolising the contemporary, in spreading knowledge and in promoting the growth of a community that we want to see increasingly diverse and inclusive”.
Questa lettera sul pagliaccio morto
A train driver hits a clown who was riding along the tracks in the opposite direction on a unicycle. In reality the man, Zebbo Brkyglash, deliberately let himself be hit by the train and, as he dies, he tells his story to the train driver. His mother is dead, the period that made him a man has passed, he had left the company and found a home in the only other place that a homeless and stateless man can live, the circus.
The “lettera (letter)” of the title is a result of the need for the train driver to explain to his superiors how the clown ended up under his train.
“Questa lettera sul pagliaccio morto (This letter on the dead clown) tells of a person who is given the task of recounting another person’s entire life, an enormous task - writes Davide Pascarella -. It tells the life of a man in the words of the one who knew him just long enough to hear his story before he died”. And through this life, the driver that collects his memories “finds a reason to open his eyes to everything that surrounds him: the air that he breathes, the beating of a heart, the meaning of death”.
Davide Pascarella (1997) is an actor, writer and director. He is attending the final year of the Acting School at the Teatro Stabile in Turin directed by Gabriele Vacis and Valerio Binasco. In 2017 he held the role of director’s assistant for Romeo e Giulietta ovvero la perdita dei padri by the Biancofango company at the Teatro Bellini in Naples. In 2018 he was among those selected by Antonio Rezza and Flavia Mastrella for the Theatre Biennial in Venice and collaborated with Mario Gelardi on the dramaturgy for Brucia l’Europa. In 2019 he made his acting debut in Hamlet, directed by Valerio Binasco at the Teatro Stabile in Turin. Questa lettera sul pagliaccio morto is his first work as writer and director.
Duration: 1h 10 minutes without interval
Credits
Piccolo Teatro Grassi
Monday 14 September 2020, 8.30 p.m.
Questa lettera sul pagliaccio morto
text, directing, space, lighting Davide Pascarella
with Paola Senatore
live sound design Chiara Dello Iacovo, sets and materials created by Gabriella Armini
created with Matilde Vigna, director’s assistant Eva Meskhi, assistants Gabriele Matté, Erica Nava, Letizia A. Russo | stage photography Guido Mencari
a project by Davide Pascarella / teatromemoria
a Carrozzerie_n.o.t. production residence, in collaboration with Nuovo Teatro Sanità
Winning project for “odiolestate 2019”
TICKETS
single seat in stalls/balcony
Full price € 10