He moves to Ganzirri’s Area Iris for his final three days (from 16 to 18 August) and will close with another first national team. The Messina Festival Theater Courtyarddirected by Roberto Zorn Bonaventura, never ceases to amaze.
Let’s start from the end. “Roman holidays”, written and directed by Messina (Nice Sicily) Nella Tirante, will be staged for the first time (Friday 18 August, 21) after the partial study presented at the Roman festival “InDivenire”, directed by Giampiero Cicciò. “Closing with this show – says Bonaventura – wants to testify to the indispensable attention of the Festival to the forces of the territory, even those which, as in the case of Nella Tirante, operate throughout Italy obtaining prestigious awards”. This is how “Vacanze Romane” is presented in the notes of the author and director: «For a year I never uttered the word war, I refused to see or hear any news concerning it, too much effort, too much pain, having overcome the years of pandemic, the outbreak of a war so far away but so close, it was too much. When I had the strength to tell again, I felt the urge to write this text. What drives an artist to tell a story? I don’t pretend to tell the war, but the life of two ordinary people, who for different reasons are linked to today’s events. Cinema is another protagonist of the show: it makes you dream and think and when it is universal it becomes a masterpiece, such as “Rome, open city”, “The great war”, “La Ciociara”, are the films that form the backdrop to the story the two characters: Sergio and Nina meet at the exit of a suburban cinema, he, a young filmmaker, doesn’t have the courage to make his first film, she, who arrives from St. Petersburg for “her Roman holidays” after graduation, is born a friendship, but the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine marks their lives, bringing them closer and distances them at the same time for various reasons: it looks like the plot of a film!». Giulia Eugeni and Matteo Berardinelli will be on stage.
Much anticipation also for the return of Gaspare Balsamo and his “Symposium – The love cunto of bad masters” (Wednesday 16 August, 9 pm), inspired by Plato’s dialogue of the same name. After the enormous success recorded at the beginning of the Festival in what was the world premiere, it was not possible to immediately organize another repeat despite the great demand. Now the awaited return. The original dramaturgy evokes a narration that does not take place in Athens but in Sicily, where the narrator and the cuntist shoemaker Don Masino evoke the main scenes that over the centuries have made Socrates, Alcibiades, Aristophanes and companions memorable. In between there will be a children’s show, which is very often requested by the Festival audience. Thursday 17 August (7 pm) will be on stage “Upi very slowly” with Monia Alfieri (also director) and Manuela Boncaldo, suitable for the 4-10 age group. «Fairy tales and bizarre characters – she explains – will come alive as in a mad Circus of Wonders which for brief moments will transport the children into surreal and enchanted atmospheres. A small party which will be an opportunity to introduce characters who are a bit clowns and a bit magicians who will interact with the little spectators».