The countdown has begun for “The Metamorphoses”, the show based on the novel by Apuleius that Francesco Colella will bring to the national premiere tonight on the stage of the Politeama Theatre, a production of the XX Autumn Festival. For him it won’t be a debut like the many that he has collected and continues to collect in his career, dividing himself perfectly between theatre, cinema and television.
«In recent days I have been at the Rome Film Festival with a short film and two films – says the actor, fresh from the presentations of the films “Suspicious minds” by Emiliano Corapi and “Volare” by Margherita Buy, as well as the short “Corpo unico” by Mia Benedetta -, but my thoughts were about the show in Catanzaro».
The date at the Politeama, for the Autumn Festival, has a completely different flavor for Francesco Colella who was born in the Calabrian capital and also took his first steps in the theatrical field.
«I had shot the films – he continues to explain -, I just had to honor and celebrate the work already accomplished. Theater is different, you prepare for a live meeting and, as in life, every meeting brings with it an enigma, a mystery, an expectation, an unpredictability. You can get ready, comb your hair, make yourself look decent, but that’s not enough…».
And then, here, there will be a comparison with the “home” public: «I have a story to give and I will try to do it as best I can, to enter into communion with those who will listen to it, who will see it. It will be a pact of mutual trust, a shared journey».
But it won’t be a show like all the others: «In Catanzaro the public will be a special traveling companion -he confirms -. Courage is required from an actor, at least for the time in which he is allowed to be on stage, so in Catanzaro I will have to equip myself with greater courage, because I will have to manage the emotion of being on the stage of the Politeama, in front of a world that it belongs to me, where childhood, adolescence and maturity assault me with their memories, smells, landscapes, faces, gestures… Here are faces, especially the faces that I have seen sculpted over time and that I love».
What will the spectators who attend the Metamorphoses see? «I will live a story on that 2000 year old stage, which comes from far away – says Colella -. It is the story of a man who transforms into a donkey and I will become a donkey to show my human face, strongly wishing to receive the human face of those who will be there on November 4th, with me, in that theater in Catanzaro».
«Francesco Colella is among the major Italian actors of the moment, he is certainly not a discovery – said the artistic director of the Autumn Festival, Antonietta Santacroce -. We wanted to include him in the twentieth edition of the Autumn Festival because he is an extraordinary actor, capable of playing very intense characters, but with unparalleled intensity. Furthermore, having him back in the city and on the stage of the Politeama Theater is a unique opportunity to see him on stage: Colella will make his debut in Catanzaro with a show, produced by the Festival, which she wrote together with Francesco Lagiwho also directs it, based on the novel “The Metamorphoses” by Apuleius».
The XX Autumn Festival is organized by the Donne in arte association with the support of Mic, Por Calabria Fesr Fse, Calabria Straordinaria, in collaboration with the Carical Foundation, the Chamber of Commerce and the Municipalities of Catanzaro, Montauro, Soverato, Tropea and Santa Catherine.