«In Palermo, we all have a constellation of mourning in which the stars are the people killed by Cosa Nostra». Beginning with accounts of the Eighties and the bombings of ‘92, around which he has constructed an absorbing biographical structure, Davide Enia paints «an intimate and collective self-portrait» of a community forced to live with the constant manifestation of evil.
«To truly take on the subject of Cosa Nostra – explains Davide Enia – means embarking on a process of self-analysis. Therefore, with the aim not of understanding the mafia itself, but rather to understand the mafia in me.»
Interweaving cunto and words, body and dialect, “the tools that the theatrical vocabulary has constructed in my Palermo», Enia explores what he defines as the neurosis of his fellow citizens in relation to organised crime: «For a number of reasons, here, the mafia has been minimised, underestimated, trivialised, swept under the carpet or, on the contrary, idealised. In other words, it has never been seen for what it is.»
The play tells of the constant encounters with Cosa Nostra; the corpses found on the streets, the acquaintances killed by the mafia, the bombs in the city, the appearance of evil, «the dark expression of the sacred», to which the artist responds with «a work that is a tragedy, a civil oration, a linguistic study, a personal and collective process of self-analysis. A self-portrait that is both intimate and collective.»
Duration: 90’ without intermission
Contacts
«To truly take on the subject of Cosa Nostra – explains Davide Enia – means embarking on a process of self-analysis. Therefore, with the aim not of understanding the mafia itself, but rather to understand the mafia in me.»
Interweaving cunto and words, body and dialect, “the tools that the theatrical vocabulary has constructed in my Palermo», Enia explores what he defines as the neurosis of his fellow citizens in relation to organised crime: «For a number of reasons, here, the mafia has been minimised, underestimated, trivialised, swept under the carpet or, on the contrary, idealised. In other words, it has never been seen for what it is.»
The play tells of the constant encounters with Cosa Nostra; the corpses found on the streets, the acquaintances killed by the mafia, the bombs in the city, the appearance of evil, «the dark expression of the sacred», to which the artist responds with «a work that is a tragedy, a civil oration, a linguistic study, a personal and collective process of self-analysis. A self-portrait that is both intimate and collective.»
Duration: 90’ without intermission
Credits
Autoritratto
by and with Davide Enia
music Giulio Barocchieri
lighting Paolo Casati
sound Francesco Vitaliti
co-produced by CSS Teatro stabile di innovazione del Friuli Venezia Giulia, Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa, Accademia Perduta Romagna Teatri, Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi
with the patronage of
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Images © Fondazione Festival dei Due Mondi, photo Andrea Veroni