The Italian stage director and playwright, Romeo Castellucci will première in the Community of Madrid a reinterpretation of the classic tragedy that reflects on impossible love on 10, 11 and 12 April in the Sala Roja Concha Velasco at the Teatros del Canal. The performance will be in French with Spanish subtitles and includes the use of strobe lights, full nudity and a smoke machine.
The drama written by Jean Racine becomes a monologue featuring one of the great figures on the contemporary scene: Isabelle Huppert, whose presence concentrates all of the show’s emotional and symbolic tension.
Bérénice, Queen of Judea, is in love with Titus, a Roman General who loves her back, but when he ascends to the imperial throne, he realises that Rome will not accept a foreign queen. Forced to choose between love and his political responsibility, Titus decides to forego Berenice.
In this universe, decisions not taken weigh more heavily than actions, and violence is no longer physical, but internal, almost biological. Education, morality and chastity act as restraining forces that paralyse desire and turn love into a space of silent cruelty.
The show is presented as one of the most immobile and disconcerting tragedies ever written, where nothing seems to move forward and yet everything hurts. It is precisely this extreme stillness that triggers the spectator’s identification: the abandoned queen ceases to be a historical figure and becomes an intimate and universal mirror.
On stage, Huppert does not only play Bérénice, as almost all of the soundscape is created by her voice, transformed and amplified by the sound artist, Scott Gibbons, creating an auditory landscape that is as disturbing as it is hypnotic.
Born in Cesena (Italy) in 1960, Romeo Castellucci is a director, playwright, visual artist and set designer who set up Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio in 1981 in conjunction with his sister Claudia and Chiara Guidi, an avant-garde company that has been experimenting with different expressions of the performing arts to explore humanity and cultural perception.
He has won many awards throughout his career, such as the Chevalier Medal of the Arts by the French Ministry of Culture in 2002. He was named Associate Artist of the 62nd edition of the Avignon Festival in 2008 and he was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennial in 2013.
Artistic File:
Venue: Teatros del Canal - Sala Roja Concha Velasco
- Cast - Isabelle Huppert. With the participation of Cheikh Kébé and Giovanni Armando Romano, as well as 12 local performers
- Concept and Director - Romeo Castellucci
- Original Music - Scott Gibbons
- Wardrobe - Iris van Herpen
- Assistant Director - Silvana Voltolina
- Text Prompter - Agathe Vidal
- Technical Director - Eugenio Resta
- Stage Technicians - Andrei Benchea and Stefano Valandro
- Lighting Technician - Andrea Sanson
- Sound Technician - Claudio Tortorici
- Head of Wardrobe on Tour - Chiara Venturini
- Hair and Make-up - Sylvie Cailler and Jocelyne Milazzo
- Sculptures and Stage Automation - Plastikart Studio Amoroso and Zimmermann
- Production Director - Benedetta Briglia and Marko Rankov
- Production and Tour - Giulia Colla and Bruno Jacob
- Organisation - Caterina Soranzo
- Contribution to Production - Gilda Biasini
- Technical Team - Lorenzo Camera, Carmen Castellucci, Francesca Di Serio and Gionni Gardini
- Wardrobe Assistant - Madeleine Tessier
- Double Movement - Serena Dibiase
- Administration - Michela Medri, Elisa Bruno, Simona Barducci and Leslie Perrin
- Economic Advisor - Massimiliano Coli
- Production - Societas, Cesena; Printemps des Comédiens / Cité du Théâtre Domaine d’O, Montpellier
- Co-production - Théâtre de La Ville Paris – France; Comédie de Genève, Switzerland; Ruhrtriennale, Germany; Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg; deSingel International Arts Center, Belgium; Festival Temporada Alta, Spain; Teatro di Napoli – Teatro Nazionale, Italy; Onassis Culture – Athens, Greece; Triennale Milano, Italy; National Taichung Theater, Taiwan; Holland Festival, Netherlands; LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura, Switzerland; TAP – Théâtre Auditorium de Poitiers, France; La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand – Scène Nationale, France; Théâtre national de Bretagne – Rennes, France
- Support - Hermès Foundation
Approximate Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Language: French (with Spanish subtitles)
Warning: use of strobe lights, full nudity and a smoke machine
