There are bonds so strong that they never falter and do not break even in the face of death, such as the unconditional love of a child towards his mother, the woman who brought him into the world. And it is a pure and absolute love that little Cirasedda – Christmas at the registry office, so lovingly addressed by his mother because of the eyes similar to two cherries – nurtures and looks after her mother, a woman who practices the oldest profession in the world for a living.
The story of little Cirasedda and his prostitute mother takes place in one of the many suburbs of Catania where marginalization, loneliness and poverty are the order of the day. Existences on the margins protagonists of the intense monologue “Cirasedda no longer lives here”, the second applauded appointment of the twelfth edition of the Cortile Teatro Festivalunder the artistic direction of Roberto Zorn Bonaventura.
The eighteenth-century courtyard of Palazzo Calapaj – D’Alcontres, on a very hot evening at the end of July, was transformed into one of those shabby suburban courtyards, thanks to the dramaturgical force evoked by the text by Roberta Amato and Alice Sgroi, directed instead by Nicola Alberto Orofino for a production “Working with magic”. On stage Vincenzo Ricca, generous and capable of giving intense nuances, tells the story of Cirasedda, a 12-year-old boy who spends his days on the “u’ bisolu” of the his home and from there he observes who arrives, who passes by, comments with the neighbors on the events of the day, cultivates small and great passions, welcomes, waits and dismisses the customers of his mother, a beautiful and fragile woman.
A story that has its roots in a true storybecause what inspires the story is the story of a boy who is an innocent victim of the mafia, in a social context that he abandons and relegates to the margins.
«This forgotten story – as the director Orofino wanted to remark at the end of the performance, who has been busy for years with telling the difficult world of the Catania suburbs, in the belief that the authenticity and wonder of the city lurk there – we wanted to inspire creation of the show, trying, together with the authors, to write a different ending, to give the protagonist that childhood and that future denied by life». Thus the writing of Amato and Sgroi, which mixes linguistic and emotional directors, draws the present of Cirasedda and a universe of characters on the edge, eccentric and generous, among the mother’s regular customers, neighbors and transvestites who seek their own identity, a small world made up of sticker packets to open, meatloaf eaten alone, trips to the beach and tables to set for two, repeated gestures to create a family routine, where music, words and silences mark the time of dreams, of present and waiting. For Cirasedda, however, there is the possibility of a different futurea gift possible thanks to the immense and generative strength of the love between mother and child.
An evening of intense words, sharing, meeting the one experienced at the Cortile Teatro Festival, an essential summer event on the banks of the Strait for those who love contemporary drama, born from an idea by Roberto Zorn Bonaventura, Giuseppe Giamboi and Stefano Barbagallo. An opportunity to reflect on our present, between complexity and opportunities, through the power of stories, a project to be supported and valued. The Castle of Sancio Panza organizes the Festival with the collaboration of the ‘A Cucchiara restaurant, the Multiplex Iris and the support of Lattitudes, the Sicilian dramaturgy network.
The program will continue on July 31 with the Apulian Donato Paternoster, author and interpreter of “Super Santos (One who made it)” and on August 7 with the new production of Nutrimenti Terrestri, “La grande lie”, written and directed by Claudio Fava and interpreted by David Coco.