created in 1999 - running time 60’
performed by
MICHELE ABBONDANZA, ANTONELLA BERTONI, SILVANO PANTESCO, BRUNO STORI
text
BRUNO STORI
direction and sets
LETIZIA QUINTAVALLA
choreographed by
MICHELE ABBONDANZA and ANTONELLA BERTONI
original music
SILVANO PANTESCO
song text
PAOLA PALLOTTINO
musical arrangement
ALESSANDRO NIDI
musical research
MAURO CASAPPA
lighting design
LUCIO DIANA
costumes
PATRIZIA CAGGIATI
acoustics
MAURO CASAPPA
light
BARBARA MUGNAI
production collaboration
PATRIZIA CUZZANI
with the support of
TEATRO PETRELLA DI LONGIANO, SANTARCANGELO DEI TEATRI,
PROVINCIA AUTONOMA DI TRENTO
SHOW CURRENTLY NOT IN PROGRAMMING
Romanzo d’infanzia (1997) and Fiaba buia (1999) are the joint creations of Bruno Stori, Antonella Bertoni, Michele Abbondanza and Letizia Quintavalla. Silvano Pantesco contributed to Fiaba buia. The performances are self-produced and involve all the artists to the same degree. We would like to stress that they do not belong to one specific area of theatre (dance, prose or music), but to ‘theatre’ in general. This means the various elements converge within the show as a whole. This notice is an attempt to be informative but also to clarify an artistic/productive concept that has rarely been understood and accurately presented to audiences by organisers, directors or theatre critics (we have an endless supply of errors regarding either roles, specifications or names on programmes and in the press) during the years spent on tour. The cultural nomadism and instability we have actively pursued as single artists who unite for a time and then disband again, meeting only when we really have something to say together has not really been sufficiently underlined.
Self-production requires great effort, but above all it takes hard work to find and develop artistic liasons, so we would like to draw attention to the fact that these are not ‘marriages’ or stable relationships where one partner takes on the surname of the other, nor are they directing assignments or choreography contributions that complete the work of one of the parts. Instead they are a union governed by reciprocal respect and a curiosity to explore the unknown or unexpected forms our work can take. For reasons of practicality, or by error, it is also common for the artistic parentage of a show to be attributed to the distributional structure only. Of course the layout and graphics for a theatre’s seasonal programme are much simpler to deal with when just one name or label or genre is mentioned! But in this way the chance to move beyond standard interpretative and critical assessment of the work is lost. We constantly meet with great difficulty in making sure that what we write to accompany our work (posters - information - notes) is understood and respected. More accuracy of form and greater sensitivity of content is necessary. Artists are famously touchy and obsessive.
They love their work and anyone who dares touch it should be careful. We need recognition for our poetic paths and above all for the effort required to make detours, sometimes to encounter different creative roads from our own. Audiences should be given exact information on ‘what’ and ‘who’ they are going to see, who has produced the performance and who created it. When we were born we were given names: they are dear to us. Each of us has years of work in the various arts behind us: they are dear to us. So it is not good enough to make a mistake and say, for example, that ‘directors and authors will dance in the streets of this or that town or city…’, or to throw the lighting consultant in with the choeographers. One of our names has been wrongly spelled on six different occasions...even worse, people with determining roles in the creation of a performance have sometimes been omitted altogether from the credits, or mixed up, and when a show is co-directed, one or the other director is often left out. Why? If an organiser or director is more familiar with a particular artist and their work, the others are often forgotten. It certainly is easier to remember one name than four or five, but so what? Were we put on this earth to take the easy way out? There is an artistic fellowship between us, and let no press office divide what respect has united - that is something we really do care about.
Letizia Quintavalla, Antonella Bertoni, Michele Abbondanza, Bruno Stori
Fiaba buia - inspired by Bianco come la neve rosso come il sangue (White as snow, red as blood) by Paola Pallottino, is danced, acted and sung by Michele Abbondanza, Antonella Bertoni, Bruno Stori and Silvano Pantesco under the direction of Letizia Quintavalla. It draws on fairytales but is aimed at adult audiences. And in fact the texts of the songs, written by Paola Pallottino way back in 1973, capture the moments when the female protagonists in the classic fairytales by Perrault are cast out and suffer childhood violence. The result is a show that is definitely not “for children” but “about children” instead.
Bad thoughts are scary, but they have to be pulled out…maybe by the tail!
Fiaba buia. Mixed arts performance. Danced, acted and unconventionally sung. Inspired by fairytales, but performed for adults.
The Piper
Without burning incense, without rare poisons and for just a small fee he will free you of rats.
Snow White
And you, dear child with your snow-white face, you grew too fast, you grew too well…
Donkeyskin
Cruel father, let me go - cruel father, let me go - your diamonds weigh me down too much, I’m setting off alone..
Little Red Riding Hood
Thirteen may not seem very old while your head still rests upon your mother’s breast, but it can be hell once you start wearing the red dress.
Cinderella
The most painful silence of all falls on your ever-whiter cheeks and on your lips, too tired to seek kisses or smiles…
Tom Thumb
Tom Thumb knows that to win’s not much, and triumph can really blind
The daily fight’s no game, you see - was the ogre mere shadow of a darker ogre behind?
The Black Field
People stare and don’t seem to understand, looking past field and sky with dry eyes that have watched the wrong son leave, without stopping him.
ITALY
1999. Santarcangelo dei Teatri – Santarcangelo (RN) (1° nazionale); Castello Pasquini – Castiglioncello (LI).
2000. Teatro al Parco – Parma; Teatro Villa dei Leoni – Mira (VE); Teatro Petrella – Longiano (FO);Teatro Don Sironi – Osnago (MI); Teatro Zandonai – Rovereto (TN); Teatro del mare – Riccione (RN); CRT Teatro dell’Arte – Milano; Casinò Municipale – Arco (TN); Festival Fabbrica Europa - Ex Stazione Leopolda – Firenze.
2001. Teatro Comunale – Casalmaggiore (CR).
ABROAD
2002. Akademie – Zurigo (Switzerland)