The shows inspired by the Myth are back at the Archaeological Park of Naxos, with the third edition of the theater review Interpreting the Ancient, directed by Gigi Spedale for the Latitudes Network. The review is an integral part of the broader project Communicating the Ancient, organized by the Naxos Taormina Archaeological Park, directed by Gabriella Tigano, with the NaxosLegge Festival, directed by Fulvia Toscano; with the contribution of the Sicilian Region and ERSU Messina, the patronage of the Municipality of Giardini Naxos, with the collaboration of COSPES and DAMS of the University of Messina.
On Sunday 27 August at 7 pm, the conference to present the events of Interpretare l’Antico to the media and the public is scheduled in the Archaeological Park of Naxos. Gabriella Tigano, Director of the Naxos Taormina Archaeological Park will intervene; Gigi Spedale, President of Rete Lattitudes – Artistic Director of Interpretare l’Antico, Fulvia Toscano, Artistic Director of NaxosLegge; Giovanna Cuttitta, President of ERSU ME; Dario Tomasello, Coordinator of DAMS UniME, Caterina Trifirò, Professor of Performing Arts Disciplines UniME. The students of the DAMS of Messina and the guest artists of this project will also be present. The shows and special events, inspired by the classical Myths, will be held in the splendid setting of the Nike Theater of the Archaeological Park of Naxos Taormina. At 21 will be staged Teras, Tiresia (theatrical short with free admission) by Valeria La Bua, with Rita Fuoco Salonia, directed by Toscano/La Bua (Teras Teatro production).
In an indefinite moment – which could be now or always – a man, who represents us all, summons from the realm of the dead, through a rite (the nekyia of Homeric memory), the soothsayer Tiresias. The prophet, back among the living, answers the questions that are posed to him, at first, with irony. Then he begins to retrace his life, convinced that many of the things handed down have not been told in the right way.
The long journey of his story is the journey of all of us: the heroic journey of mortals, who are born into the certainty of the end of all things. At dawn on Monday 28 August the first special event of Interpreting the Ancient is scheduled with “Polyphemus in love” by and with Giovanni Calcagno, (production by La Casa dei Santi/Statale 114, with the contribution of the Archaeological Park of Naxos). The show will be staged at 6 in the morning with free admission from 5:30.
The Cyclops in love is certainly one of the most beautiful Idylls of Theocritus (300 BC ca. -260 ca.). Composed in Doric dialect, it is the description of the contrast between the physical ugliness and the spiritual sensitivity of the Cyclops: a wild monster, unaware of justice and laws, shows himself, in the figure outlined by the Hellenistic poet, as a poor unrequited lover who, to alleviate the pains of love, he devoted himself to poetry. And it is precisely this creative act that elevates him to the rank of human being.
This revival of the tradition is evidence of a peculiar characteristic of the Hellenistic age, namely the tendency on the part of poets to seek variants of the Myth that are less known and less treated by classical Greek poetry. The text is proposed here by Giovanni Calcagno in double interpretation: one in the original language, Greek, the other in Sicilian, in a continuous play of languages and sounds in which the cultured and the popular narration alternate incessantly, revealing the dramatic and grotesque tones of this little masterpiece of poetry.
Fulvia Toscano, creator and director of NaxosLegge, declares: “Interpreting the Ancient, after three years, can be considered a shared and expected cultural reality. It is important that in the first Greek colony of Sicily a lively debate is opened on the interpretation of the ancient, through important realities of the contemporary scene. An uninterrupted dialogue between Ancient and Present”.
“The generous offer of the Companies of the Lattitudes Network, combined with the sensitivity of the director Tigano and the energy of Fulvia Toscano, allows us to create a third edition of Interpreting the Ancient that grows and ranges in every multidisciplinary field, to the rediscovery of the myths classics”, adds the artistic director of the show Gigi Spedale.