In MAY 2015, TEATRO NUCLEO will be hosting an international teaching event to mark its forty years of activity as a theatre group and as a tribute to the memory of one of its leading lights, actor, director and teacher Antonio Tassinari who died a year ago. From the 22nd to the 31st of May, three of the most significant groups in the history of contemporary theatre, which continue to be points of reference for successive generations of theatre students, will be coming to the Julio Cortazar Theatre in Pontelagoscuro (Ferrara). These are: Teatro Comunitario Argentino (Argentinian Community Theatre movement), Cathy Marchand of the Living Theatre and Ósmego Dnia. The project is based on the premise that a heritage can be defined as such only in so far as it is living, and cannot be replaced by the “deferred” study of text books and other handed down materials. The only spaces capable of acquiring an artistic heritage are human ones, made of shared experience, such as those the invited groups are carriers of.
Living Heritage is part of the Primavera del Teatro (Theatre Spring) programme, a broader cultural and artistic project organised by Teatro Julio Cortazar which also includes the Totem Arti Festival, this too in the Cortazar theatre on the following weekend, 5/6/7th June (www.totemartifestival.it).
Living Heritage is both endorsed and supported by Ferrara City Council, the Ferrara Municipal Theatre Foundation and the Emilia Romagna Region.
From Argentina there will be exponents of the Circuito Cultural Barracas and the Gruppo di Teatro Catalinas Sur, two Teatro Comunitario (community theatre) groups from Buenos Aires who work to get local residents involved in collective theatre and art projects run by and for the community. Teatro Comunitario Argentino will be holding two workshops: the first, led by Ricardo Talento, will be a theoretical and practical study of community theatre methodology and the second, led by Ana Serralta, will be a practical theatre set construction workshop.
WORKSHOP led by RICARDO TALENTO
THE METHODOLOGY OF COMMUNITY THEATRE
22/23/24th MayTheatre director, dramaturg and teacher Ricardo Talento was the founder of Circuito Culturale Barracas in Buenos Aires.
His seminar is divided into a theoretical lesson and a practical lesson. The conceptual lesson will be about memory, identity, intergenerationality, collective dramaturgy, group dynamics and art in social transformation. The practical lesson will include working on the body and collective corporeality, collective dramaturgy through chorality, the song, plasticity, the creation of the character, integration with other actors and “non-actors” and the staging and exhibiting of the work.
WORKSHOP led by ANA SERRALTA
SET CONSTRUCTION
25-30th May
Anna Serralta, scenographer of Gruppo di Teatro Catalinas Sur in Buenos Aires, painted the murals on the walls of the Julio Cortazar Theatre in Pontelagoscuro in 2005 together with Omar Gasparini, and subsequently painted murals on four other important buildings in the village.
Her seminar will be about practical construction, during which the students, after an introduction to drawing, will learn the techniques for making chalk, rubber and silicone moulds for puppets and masks, foam rubber sculpture, frameworks for cabezudos and puppets and sets for both street and indoor theatre.
WORKSHOP – WRITING IN THE SPACE
25/26/27th May 2015
Teatr Ósmego Dnia, the “Theatre of the Eighth Day”, was founded in 1964 in Poznań in Poland, when the communist regime was at its height. The group’s work is both socially and politically committed, which is why, in 1985, it was forced to emigrate to – amongst other places – Ferrara, where it was welcomed by Teatro Nucleo. Ósmego Dnia was initially influenced by Jerzy Grotowski, but has since developed its own unique method.
The seminar focuses on poetics, the method developed by the group to build its performances – “writing in the space” – and physical training techniques borrowed from Grotowski’s Laboratory Theatre. The workshop programme includes physical and vocal training to make the actor aware of her own “inner life”, collective improvisation starting from the actor’s everyday social and political world and editing and building on the poetics of the images emerging from the improvisations.
WORKSHOP – IN JULIAN BECK’S SUITCASE
29/30/31st May 2015
Cathy Marchand was a pupil of Jean Louis Barrault who, after meeting Julian Beck and Judith Malina of the Living Theatre, found the key to combining theatre and politics. She has worked with Pier Paolo Pasolini, Sergio Citti, Gian Maria Volonté, Federico Fellini and Dino Risi. When Julian Beck died, she returned to Europe and began working solo, passing her Living Theatre experiences on to the next generations.
The seminar is based on objects-symbols taken from Cathy Marchand’s life story that are used to bring the techniques developed by the Living Theatre into the present. The programme includes ritual-based training sessions for developing collective creation and the use of stage space, references to Meyerhold’s biomechanics in the evolution of the Living Theatre, working on the voice and sound with the help of musical instruments, the classical theatre of Louis Barrault, the ritual of Antonin Artaud, poetic writing with “exquisite corpse”, a surrealist group game.
The 4 workshops can be attended singly, although attending all four days is recommended, not only because of the quality of the artistic content, but also because of the intensive and constant activity of meetings, discussions, work demonstrations, photo exhibitions, screenings and, above all, inter-group ‘contamination’ throughout the entire course.
1 Teatro Comunitario Argentino
Methodology – Ricardo Talento
22-24 May, total 24 hours
2 Osmego Dnia
Writing in the space
25-27 May, total 24 hours
3 Living Theatre – Cathy Marchand
In Julian Beck’s suitcase
29-31 May, total 24 hours
4 Teatro Comunitario Argentino
Set construction
25-30 May, total 36 hours
COSTS (in euros)
Workshops 1,2,3 > €140 each
2 workshops chosen from 1,2,3 > €260
Complete course 1+2+3 > €360
Workshop 4 > €180
Complete Teatro Comunitario course 1+4 > €300
Whoever attends at least one workshop will be able to attend the other workshops as an observer at the additional cost of 50 euros per workshop,
Accommodation and meal offers are available for course members.
Those attending the course will be presented with a certificate.