We are absolutely thrilled to bring to Malta Sulla morte senza esagerare (“On Death Without Exaggeration”): a touching performance rooted in traditions of physical theatre, commedia dell’arte and silent-mask theatre, which combine in a moving and unconventional exploration of death.
Pioneering a new language of non-verbal theatre, Teatro dei Gordi have toured worldwide presenting their work to critical acclaim.
By and with: Giovanni Longhin, Andrea Panigatti, Sandro Pivotti, Matteo Vitanza
Concept and direction: Riccardo Pippa
Set design, masks and costumes: Ilaria Ariemme
Light design: Giuliano Bottacin
Sound design: Luca De Marinis
Technical manager: Alice Colla
Production: Teatro Franco Parenti / I Gordi
Running time: 1 hour
The performance will be followed by a Q&A session in English with all the company members involved!
DESCRIPTION
Sulla morte senza esagerare is a tribute to the Polish poet Wisława Szymborska. Conceived and directed by director Riccardo Pippa, the show addresses the theme of death in an ironic and amusing key through an unconventional use of contemporary masks. The figures move with truth and lightness on an original dramaturgical structure.
On the threshold between the hereafter and the thereafter, where souls take their final leave from the bodies, there is our Death. The living fear it, flee from it, deny it, seek it, challenge it, invoke it. The only certainty is death, they say. But how many delays in his work, how many unexpected events, clumsy attempts, misses and souls sent back to the sender! And then what does Death know, she who is immortal, of what it means to die?
Contemporary papier-mâché masks, familiar figures tell, without words, their last moments, missed opportunities, goodbyes; they tell simple stories with irony, to talk about death, always without exaggerating.
Selected by Visionari Kilowatt Festival and Artificio Como 2016. Unanimous winner of the production award Scintille 2015. National Award Giovani Realtà del Teatro 2015, created by Accademia d’Arte Drammatica Nico Pepe of Udine: show winner of the Special Award, Nico Pepe’s Students Jury Award and Audience Award.
THE COMPANY
Teatro dei Gordi is an independent theatre company funded by a group of artists who graduated from Scuola d’Arte Drammatica Paolo Grassi di Milano. Since 2010, Gordi have met and worked together to create theatrical shows, to share experiences of training and organize cultural projects. They nourish themselves on meetings and collaboration, defending their work as a collective creation.
In 2015, thanks to project T.R.E – Teatro in rete per emergere, they won Fondazione Cariplo Call “Funder35”, and were able to strengthen their organizational structure. From then on, the company relies on director Riccardo Pippa’s sensitive look on art and pursues a non-verbal theatre, rather physical, meant for actors with and without masks, that aims to overcome the language barrier amid the audience.
In 2019, the Company received the Hystrio-Iceberg award, which refers to Gordi as one of the most interesting groups among the Milanese and Italian theatrical scene.
TEATRO FRANCO PARENTI
51 years ago, in 1972, the actor Franco Parenti together with Andrée Ruth Shammah, who was at that time in her early twenties and is still nowadays our artistic director, founded the theatrical company Teatro Franco Parenti, choosing the form of a co-operative; and they founded it with the playwright, writer, painter and art critic Giovanni Testori, the philologist and academic Dante Isella and the scene and costume designer Gianmaurizio Fercioni. And they obtained these spaces from the Municipality of Milan, which were those of an old cinema (named ARS/Continental), where they opened a new theater with the name of Salone Pier Lombardo.
Since its opening in 1973, Salone Pier Lombardo immediately became a point of reference for artistic and cultural vitality in Milan – characterizing itself for a revolutionary idea of theater for the time, projected towards Italian and foreign innovations as well as towards rewriting and reinterpretation of the classics – and also characterized by a very intense activity, made of theatrical performances for sure, but also many other different cultural events: concerts, film and dance reviews, conferences, lectios (Master’s lessons), book presentations…
In 2023, Franco Parenti Theater turned 50 years old and is projecting itself into the future by highlighting how its passion for challenges has transformed it into a unique place, constantly evolving, overcoming barriers between genres and generations, bringing together masters and young talents.