Zorro
Illustration Antonio Latella
The masked horseman and the letter that is his symbol – the last of the alphabet – serve as cues for the new work in which Antonio Latella provides a contemporary re-reading of the legend of superheroes and focuses on the areas at risk in 21st-century society.
In a diptych that includes Wonder Woman and Zorro, Antonio Latella, together with Federico Bellini, analyses the wounds of the 21st century: poverty, marginalisation and abuse. «The mask of Zorro – explains Latella – is a bourgeois evolution of our own Zanni from the Commedia dell’Arte. “Zanni” and Zorro” begin with the same letter, the true hero. They sought to convince us that the last shall be first, and we may have believed it. I believe that the letter Z encapsulates all the implications of that phrase.»
Adopting the rules of dance, the direction breaks down the conventions of staging and presents seven quadrilles: the four actors, in turn the Police officer, the Pauper, the Mute and the Horse, «every time they “slip up” on the word segno (sign), they have to go begin again, exchanging identity and examining themselves in relation to the others. The work moves on, shifting from identity to examine convention, which is what the actions on the stage remain, even when the aim is to create realism or “truth”. Perhaps the only possibility to exist and to survive is through the dialogue that comes from language, from the alphabet or, as superheroes have taught us, from a single letter. So, let it be “Z”.»
Duration: the play is currently in production
Contacts
In a diptych that includes Wonder Woman and Zorro, Antonio Latella, together with Federico Bellini, analyses the wounds of the 21st century: poverty, marginalisation and abuse. «The mask of Zorro – explains Latella – is a bourgeois evolution of our own Zanni from the Commedia dell’Arte. “Zanni” and Zorro” begin with the same letter, the true hero. They sought to convince us that the last shall be first, and we may have believed it. I believe that the letter Z encapsulates all the implications of that phrase.»
Adopting the rules of dance, the direction breaks down the conventions of staging and presents seven quadrilles: the four actors, in turn the Police officer, the Pauper, the Mute and the Horse, «every time they “slip up” on the word segno (sign), they have to go begin again, exchanging identity and examining themselves in relation to the others. The work moves on, shifting from identity to examine convention, which is what the actions on the stage remain, even when the aim is to create realism or “truth”. Perhaps the only possibility to exist and to survive is through the dialogue that comes from language, from the alphabet or, as superheroes have taught us, from a single letter. So, let it be “Z”.»
Duration: the play is currently in production
Credits
Zorro
by Antonio Latella and Federico Bellini
sets Annelisa Zaccheria
costumes Simona D’Amico
music and sound Franco Visioli
lighting Simone De Angelis
choreographic movements Alessio Maria Romano
director’s assistant Paolo Costantini
with Michele Andrei, Paolo Giovannucci, Stefano Laguni, Isacco Venturini
a Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa production
