A play for the living in a time of extinction focuses on procreation, extinction and cultural colonialism through a radical and “sustainable” staging. Miranda Rose’s text has been re-interpreted for the Piccolo by lacasadargilla/Lisa Ferlazzo Natoli on the basis of a project by the British director Katie Mitchell.
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Teatro Studio Melato
“The difference between death and extinction is that death means no longer existing. Extinction means to disappear”. These are the words of the lead character in A play for the living in a time of extinction, a “woman of colour, who is afraid of death, a dramaturg in her forties”, who discusses the concepts of origin, legacy and survival with the audience. The text recalls the five large-scale cases of extinction that modified life on Earth, measuring the depth of time from generation to generation, right up to the singular nature of the sixth, rapid and lethal, the end of the present as we know it. It is a harrowing catalogue of extinct or almost-extinct species that invites us to either change the future or at the very least to care for it; because the time of humans - a blink of an eye in terms of the story of the Earth, risks permanently wiping out the legacy of all creation. The little brown bat, the marbled gecko and the Guadalupe cypress are all species on the brink of a form of mass extinction for which simply remembering their names would be a first step in caring for them. Based on a project for the Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne by the British director Katie Mitchell - who has made environmental protection a cornerstone of her work -, the text by the American Miranda Role Hall (Baltimore, 1990) stages the debate over climate change and the relationship with death and life seen as a gift. The play has been re-interpreted for Italy by lacasadargilla/Lisa Ferlazzo Natoli through a painstaking examination of the language, the interpretation and of the scenic, auditory and visual imagery of the original concept.
Duration: 75' without interval
Learn more
Booklet
Read“The difference between death and extinction is that death means no longer existing. Extinction means to disappear”. These are the words of the lead character in A play for the living in a time of extinction, a “woman of colour, who is afraid of death, a dramaturg in her forties”, who discusses the concepts of origin, legacy and survival with the audience. The text recalls the five large-scale cases of extinction that modified life on Earth, measuring the depth of time from generation to generation, right up to the singular nature of the sixth, rapid and lethal, the end of the present as we know it. It is a harrowing catalogue of extinct or almost-extinct species that invites us to either change the future or at the very least to care for it; because the time of humans - a blink of an eye in terms of the story of the Earth, risks permanently wiping out the legacy of all creation. The little brown bat, the marbled gecko and the Guadalupe cypress are all species on the brink of a form of mass extinction for which simply remembering their names would be a first step in caring for them. Based on a project for the Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne by the British director Katie Mitchell - who has made environmental protection a cornerstone of her work -, the text by the American Miranda Role Hall (Baltimore, 1990) stages the debate over climate change and the relationship with death and life seen as a gift. The play has been re-interpreted for Italy by lacasadargilla/Lisa Ferlazzo Natoli through a painstaking examination of the language, the interpretation and of the scenic, auditory and visual imagery of the original concept.
Duration: 75' without interval
Learn more
Booklet
ReadMeetings and insights
Credits
Uno spettacolo per chi vive in tempi di estinzione
text Miranda Rose Hall
production concept and original direction Katie Mitchell
dramaturgy Ntando Cele
concept for Italy lacasadargilla
Italian translation and script Margherita Mauro
directed by Lisa Ferlazzo Natoli
with Esther Elisha
sets and sound Alessandro Ferroni
lighting Luigi Biondi
images Maddalena Parise
compositions Gianluca Ruggeri
movements Marco D’Agostin
chorus training Livia Brambilla, with the collaboration of Giovanna Ferrara and Filippo Maria Tuccimei
choristers Silvia Baldini, Luca Bardi, Pieranna Borio, Livia Vittoria Brambilla, Elsa Angela Brambilla, Annamaria Caporusso, Francesco Cigada, Alessia Coari, Nicola Coccia, Laura Angela Corona, Bianca Maria Dacomo Annoni, Ruggero Dimiccoli, Giovanna Maria Ferrara, Anna Fiorini, Giovanni Granata, Angelo Maffezzoli, Matteo Maraone, Giuseppe Martini, Gabriella Martino, Angela Leonarda Masala, Franco Mazzarella, Natale Minchillo, Tzvetana Momtcheva, Claudia Morelli, Bruno Morelli, Daniela Nannavecchia, Diyana Ivanova Pashova, Nicoletta Camilla Pedraglio, Cornelia Pelletta, Letizia Pepori, Roberta Piloni, Federico Russo, Gianbattista Sassera, Carlantonia Sassi, Gabriella Taraborrelli, Filippo Tuccimei, Gianmario Tumiati, Ornella Vinci, Valentina Volonté, Roberta Zanuso, Alessandro Zemella
collaborating director Alice Palazzi
director's assistant Caterina Dazzi
stage photos Masiar Pasquali
The play forms the first chapter of the project “Sustainable theatre?”
concept Katie Mitchell, Jérôme Bel, Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
in collaboration with the Centre Interdisciplinaire de durabilité de l’Université de Lausanne
a Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, R.B. Jérôme Bel, Rete dei Teatri in Transizione production: Dramaten Stockholm, MC2 Grenoble, National Theater & Concert Hall, Taipei, NTGent, Piccolo Teatro di Milano -Teatro d'Europa, Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, Théâtre de Liège, Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, National Theatre of Croatia Zagreb, Slovene National Theatre Maribor, Trafo
*A PLAY FOR THE LIVING IN A TIME OF EXTINCTION World premiere produced by Baltimore Center Stage (Stephanie Ybarra, artistic director/Michael Ross, executive director)
The play was commissioned and developed by the LubDub Theatre Company, Caitlin Nasema Cassidy and Geoff Kanick, artistic co-directors, Robert Duffley, Dramaturg. It has been developed, in part, with the help of the Orchard Project (orchardproject.com), Ari Edelson, artistic director.
Tickets
Category of performance Piccolo Production
Stalls full price € 40 | Discounted (under 26 and over 65) € 23
Balcony full price € 32 | Discounted (Under 26 and over 65) € 20
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