Image: Guido Mencari GO DOWN, MOSES BY ROMEO CASTELLUCCI SOCÌETAS RAFFAELLO SANZIO THU 25 FEB SUN 28 FEB / DUNSTAN PLAYHOUSE #AdlFest
THEATRE Go Down, Moses BY ROMEO CASTELLUCCI SOCÌETAS RAFFAELLO SANZIO AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE, EXCLUSIVE TO ADELAIDE CAST AND CREW Direction, Set, Costumes and Lights Romeo Castellucci Music Scott Gibbons Text by Claudia Castellucci and Romeo Castellucci With Rascia Darwish, Gloria Dorliguzzo, Luca Nava, Stefano Questorio, Sergio Scarlatella Extras Karen Beins, Kim Browne, John Brennand Collaboration to the Set Design Massimiliano Scuto Lighting Designer Assistant Fabiana Piccioli Set Construction Director Massimiliano Peyrone Sculptures on Stage, Prosthesis and Machinery Giovanna Amoroso, Istvan Zimmermann Costume Realization Laura Dondoli Assistance to Sound Composition Asa Horvitz Stage Technicians Claudio Bellagamba, Michele Loguercio, Filippo Mancini Sound Technician Matteo Braglia Lights Technician Danilo Quattrociocchi Production Benedetta Briglia, Cosetta Nicolini Promotion and Communication Valentina Bertolino, Gilda Biasini Administration Michela Medri, Elisa Bruno, Simona Barducci, Massimiliano Coli In co-production with Théâtre de la Ville with Festival d Automne à Paris, Théâtre de Vidy-Lausanne, desingel International Arts Campus / Antwerp, Teatro di Roma, La Comédie de Reims, Maillon, Théâtre de Strasbourg / Scène Européenne, La Filature, Scène Nationale de Mulhouse, Festival d Automne en Normandie, Festival Printemps des Comédiens, Athens Festival 2015, Adelaide Festival of Arts 2016, Peak Performances 2016, Montclair State-USA. With the participation of: Festival TransAmérique-Montreal 75 In Italian with English surtitles Access Information Duration 1hr 15min, no interval Warning Contains sexual themes, adult themes and nudity. Recommended for ages 18+ #AdlFest Adelaide Festival @adelaidefest @adelaidefestival adelaidefestival.com.au Become a Friend or Patron Become a Friend or Patron of the Adelaide Festival of Arts to access exclusive benefits and events and support our innovative and bold artistic vision. Find out more at adelaidefestival.com.au.
A NOTE FROM DAVID Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio were the first theatre company I programmed in Los Angeles for my first International Theatre Festival in 2002. There was a very specific reason I wanted them. For me, when I want to demonstrate what is extraordinary and powerful about theatre, and the levels of depth, intensity and originality that theatre is capable of producing, I can think of no better example to demonstrate this power than the work of Romeo Castellucci and Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio. For my money, Romeo Castellucci is one of the best and most important theatre directors in the world today. It s a big statement, but I see a lot of theatre, and almost all of it cannot hold a candle to Castellucci. His work can be contentious, baffling, disturbing and troubling, but that s entirely deliberate on Castellucci s part. The meaning and thought processes behind what he does can be hard to define, but there is meaning and thought in considerable quantity. For Go Down, Moses, Romeo takes a longterm interest in the man, the myth and the image of Moses, a real historical character, and uses that myth to embark on an exploration of the nature of lost childhood, lost children, the nature of birth and motherhood. As is typical of all his work, he uses the specific as a way into discussing the universal. The work is a series of tableaux and images; startling, evocative and sometimes disturbing, but all carefully placed and meaningful. If I sound like a huge fan that s because I am. It has taken four years to bring Castellucci s work back to Australia (he is also one of the busiest directors in the world) and it is one of the greatest pleasures of my final festival that Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio are in the program. DAVID SEFTON Artistic Director DIRECTOR S NOTE Go Down, Moses transfigures the various moments of the life of Moses, as they are narrated in the Book of Exodus. In the events of this man s life there is something that is inherent in the substance of our time. As with how he was described in the text that Freud dedicated to Michelangelo s Moses, the prophet of monotheism is presented here as a man, forced to react when faced with the difficulties that this God without name and without image puts before him, starting from the abandonment of his newborn body in the waters of the Nile. The character Moses is dissolved across the scenes, disregarding biographical narration to extend itself over concepts, sentiments and premonitions of a revelation that acts now. Moses is brought closer to the spectator s gaze, embodied in every element of the performance, which is conceived in tableaux and fragments; like psychic vibrations that ripple across space and time. The title evokes the famous spiritual song of the slaves of America, who identified with the Judaic people. The Israelites, able to escape their exile in Babylonia and thanks to Moses their slavery in Egypt, were the symbol of their eventual release. The slaves song may also stand for our incorporeal slavery, of people exiled from being. All that lies between is the object of this work. ROMEO CASTELLUCCI Translated by Brent Waterhouse
ROMEO CASTELLUCCI Romeo Castellucci was born in 1960 in Cesena, Italy. He graduated with a degree in painting and scenography from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna. In 1981 he founded Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio with Claudia Castellucci and Chiara Guidi. Since then he has produced numerous performances, working as writer and director as well as designing the sets, lights, sound and costumes. He is internationally recognised his works having been staged in over fifty countries for his theatre based on a synthesis of the arts aimed at creating an integrated perception. He has also written various theoretical essays that reflect the development of his conception of theatre. His directing style is marked by dramatic lines not subject to the primacy of literature, making theatre a plastic art, complex and richly visionary. This has developed a comprehensible language in the same way that music, sculpture, painting and architecture can be. His work is regularly invited to the world s most prestigious theatres, opera houses and festivals.
In 2013 Castellucci received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement from La Biennale Teatro di Venezia. In 2014 he was assigned an Honorary Degree for the disciplines of Music and Theatre from the Department of Fine Arts of Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, and the European magazine Opernwelt named him Best Opera Director of 2014. MUSIC Music composed and performed by Scott Gibbons Musical pieces in the play include: O Heavenly King composed by Alexander Knaifel, performed by Oleg Malov and Tatiana Melentieva. From the album Alexander Knaifel: Shramy Marsha, Passacaglia, Postludia, Megadisc, 1996 Wade In the Water composed by John Wesley Work II and Frederick J. Work, performed by Empire Jubilee Quartet. From the album Take Me To The Water, Dust-to-Digital, 2009 Image: Luca Del Pia
MONUMENTAL GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR THE HOLY BODY TATTOO Bold athletic dance + epic live music 4 5 MAR / FESTIVAL THEATRE GOLEM 1927 FINANCIAL TIMES EVENING STANDARD THE TELEGRAPH THE TIMES Inventive and joyous theatre for all ages 8 13 MAR / DUNSTAN PLAYHOUSE adelaidefestival.com.au BASS 131 246