Odeon Theatre presents
Friday, 16 November 2018, 18h30, at Studio Hall
in frame of the European project
FABULAMUNDI. PLAYWRITING EUROPE
the reading performance
LULLABY
by Erika Galli and Martina Ruggeri
translation by Eva Simon
directed by Elena Morar
Cast: Virginia Rogin, Rodica Mandache, Gelu Nițu, Mircea Constantinescu, Cătălina Mustață
The reading performance takes place in in the presence of the authors and it is followed by discussions with the audience
FREE ENTRANCE
The Italian authors will lead also two workshops on playwriting, at UNATC, with on 13 and 14 November.
We are in 2056, in a world that perhaps has no boundaries. There have been traumatic events of great historical importance that led to the formation of the United States of Europe.
Over the years, young people have managed to climb to the highest points of the social pyramid, increasing productivity through the exaltation of athleticism, vigour, and speed. The majority of world states have adopted a new style of politics, re-writing constitutions and enacting numerous laws.
One notable law is enacted to solve the problems of retirement and bring dignity to the lives of senior citizens; under this law, upon reaching the age of 70, a citizen is brought to one of the thousands of Lullaby centres where they live spend the remaining years of their lives. Any belongings are passed to their children or closest heirs. There are numerous centres in every city. In every part of the world. The Lullaby centre offers residents everything they need: private rooms, great meals in the in-house restaurant, a pool, a park, and various recreational activities. It is on this occasion that the 4 characters unite with the intention of planning a conspiracy.
A conspiracy prepared to kill the President of the United States of Europe, who will be visiting the centre a few hours later. They want to try to return balance to society or perhaps, more simply, to their own lives. The unreal world they are forced to live in is an oasis of well being, a little paradise on Earth, where perhaps every young man would dream of living in the autumn of their lives.
A cage, albeit gilded, induces a lack of freedom. An obligation, like any obligation, eventually tires. It can make you restless, subversive, even revolutionary.
Born in 1983 and 1986 Erika Z. Galli and Martina Ruggeri started up their creative partnership in 2005 by establishing Industria Indipendente, a performative, theatrical and visual arts cooperative. Their artistic research began in 2005 with some video and performance experimental works and continued with their original writing and dramatization. Since 2005 they have been realizing video and performance works in both city-centre and country locations, working together with performers of various kind of training and different ways of working, from music to fashion, from dance to fine arts. In 2009 they began their research on drama and theatre and in 2011 made their debut with Crepacuore that received numerous prizes at many national festivals. The same year they founded their own company Industria Indipendente, which is still operating in Rome. In 2014 they performed È tutta colpa delle madri at Teatro Valle and their script Supernova won the Histryo Prize for Theatre Writing. In 2015 the two made an appearance at the Trasparenze Festival in Modena with the show I ragazzi del Cavalcavia, winner of the Critics prize Dante Cappelletti. They reached the final stage of the Scenario Prize with Ho tanti affanni in petto, a work based on the Iliad. Since 2014 they have been part of the group Le ragazze del porno and since 2015 they have been part of the Fabulamundi playwriting Europe project. In February 2016 they were selected as resident artists by the Italian Cultural Institute of Paris where they wrote the text Lullaby, performed in the same year in the form of mise en espace (Theatre Ouvert, Paris) in collaboration with the project Face to Face and the Maison Antoine Vitez. Since 2015 they have been collaborating, as playwrights, with the directors Daniele Spanò and Luca Brinchi (First text: Aminta, by Torquato Tasso, 2016). They debuted with a new work Lucifer at Tramedautore Festival (Piccolo Teatro, Milano) and at Romaeuropa Festival in September-October 2017. Their texts were published from Cue Press publishing house (Rosso rosa, Ferracchiati- Galli- Ruggeri). Supernova, as a mise en èspace, was performed in French language at Théâtre Garonne (Toulouse) and at Festival Actoral (Marseille).
UNATC alumnus, the Theatre Directing Section, Elena Morar (n.1986), is active both in the independent theatre in Bucharest and in the projects for young directors developed by state theatres. Her most recent performances include School feat. COOL by George Cocos (Piatra Neamt Youth Theater, MIC-RO Creative Laboratory), My Father the Priest by Gabriel Sandu (presented at FNT 2018, Apollo Theater 111), Bull by Mike Bartlett (Arcub, with POINT support) Fireworks by Irina Dobrita (New Hall of the Comedy Theatre) and Love in four pictures (Small Hall-9G, Bucharest National Theater). She also coordinated numerous stage readings (Nottara Theater, 2017 & 2018, Odeon Theater, etc.) and workshops with high-school students in the festivals. Interested in contemporary Romanian dramaturgy, but also in blending narrative drama with storytelling and musical expression on the stage, she develops in parallel a track in the area of musical theatre (opera and musical) as stage and assistant director at OCC, ONB and the Lyon Opera.
Fabulamundi Playwriting Europe: Beyond Borders? is a cooperation project among theatres, festivals and cultural organizations from 10 EU Countries (Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Romania, Austria, Belgium, UK, Poland and Czech Republic). The network aims to support and promote the contemporary playwriting across Europe, in order to reinforce and enhance the activities and strategies of the professionals and artists working in the sector and to provide the theatre authors and professionals with opportunities of networking, multicultural encounter and professional development.
In the frame of this project, at Odeon Theatre has presented between 2012 – 2016 eight reading performances from the dramaturgy of all the partner countries. The translated plays were published in 2015 and 2016 in the volumes Italian contemporary drama and European contemporary drama, at Cheiron Publishing House and Cultural Foundation „Camil Petrescu”.
Kepler-438b was the first performance produced within this project, followed in 2018 by Gardenia by Elzbieta Chowaniec, directed by Zoltán Balázs (Hungary).
