An activity by 
Why
HECUBA weaves together a theatre research for the production of a new play with the desire to approach new audiences to the languages of performing art.
The goal of this project is double:
– to create a new performance that is nourished by several experiences in different cities and countries
– to test the specific method of “neighbourhood activation” developped by the company in the Pilastro area in Bologna by extending it to different territories and countries.
Location
Teatro Biondo, Palermo, PA, Italia/13.362916000000041,38.1176397,4/1000x300.png)
Characteristics
Area
Palermo is a big port of the Mediterranean sea. Located in Sicily, at south of Italy, this city hosts multiethnical communities expecially from north Africa and central Africa that make it a pluralistic metropolis.
Audience
In Palermo Laminarie worked with a group of professionals and non-professionals actors from the city. 15 people worked around the figure of Hecuba creating a new performance in order to convey the audience in the Hecuba story atmosphere.
How the audience/participants were reached or discovered
The group was created by young people interested in the project. We like to work with differents people to create the performance with them starting from the individualitis to give to the project always a different feature.
How it was done
How
The third step of Hecuba was realized as a theatre production. The group of 15 people worked with director Febo Del Zozzo and dramaturg Bruna Gambarelli for two weeks in order to prepare the performance. Febo Del Zozzo created the scenic machine, which resembles a huge loom where the actors move. Febo himself acts on stage as a stagehand. The performance was staged on 15th October 2015 at Teatro Biondo.
Results
In Palermo Febo and Bruna worked with a group of 15 people who came from differents cultures and social contexts, so it was really interesting mixing the characters and built a new plot that includes the differents personal stories of this people.
How it went
Main lessons learned
Hecuba’s character and history are strong enough to involve people of different ages and backgrounds in all Mediterannean countries.
Inspiration
HECUBA project sums up Laminarie theatre company’s wish for “getting closer” to things. Professor Claudio Meldolesi once wrote “Laminarie expresses its vocation to contact – with matter, with objects, with words, with bodies, with the world inside and outside the theatre scene, with the places – and through interconnections between fairy tales and tragedy, playing and thinking, creative and fghting experiences, between city center and outskirts”. Laminarie theatre company always aims to get in touch with new and unforeseen audiences.
Greek mithology has been a strong inspiration for this project, together with the idea of deeply exploring the border between micro-local actions and international ones.
We decided to focus on Hecuba’s character because:
– the Greek tragedy is universal and it can be used as a mean of dialogue between diferent cultures people across the Mediterranea Sea.
– Hecuba is the story of a war told by the perspective of losers. It’s a symbol of a possible change of point of view in History’s narration.
Credits
A project by Laminarie
direction and scenography Febo Del Zozzo
with Andrea Buffa, Andrea Saitta, Anita Martorana, Claudia Bua, Dario Battaglia, Erika Cipolla, Francesco Marino, Giovanna Sanfilippo, Riccardo Masi, Riccardo Rizzo, Roberto Mulia, Rossella Guarneri, Simona Caleca, Stefania Paternò, Tiziana Cuticchio
dramaturgy Bruna Gambarelli
organization Federica Rocchi
with the support of Bologna Municipality, Emilia Romagna Region, Ministry of Culture, Teatro Biondo
Activity Timeline
2015
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Hecuba - Third step: Palermo
Since 2009, LAMINARIE has its headquarter at theatre DOM la cupola del Pilastro, situated in a suburb of Bologna. Here, Laminarie has been working in deep contact with citiziens and inhabitants of the area, creating a supporting community for its projects.
HECUBA weaves together a theatre research for the production of a new play with the desire to approach new audiences to the languages of per- forming art.
The goal of this project is double: – to create a new performance that is nourished by several experiences in different cities and countries – to test the specifc method of “neighbourhood activation” developed by the company in the Pilastro area in Bologna by extending it to diferent territories and countries.
The project last three years (2015-2017) and involves many Italian suburbs and small villages where there’s a lack of stable theatre structures, and several ports along the Mediterranean Sea.
In each place, the project will mark out specific characteristics in order to meet the local context. Laminarie looked for local partners interested in the project wiling to cover the role of benckmarks of the local context and can help us building the relationship with places and people.
Laminarie’s intent is to take root in suburbs and ports along the Mediterranean Sea, working with local people and actors such as associations, libraries, institutions, schools and so on. Activities may include: workshops, conversations and meetings, lectures, involvment of citizens and local actors, single or collective narrations, urban performances, shows, video and so on. At the same time, the production of Laminarie’s new performances is going to get richer and richer while each new step is added to the final dramaturgy.
The very first step of the project is in Bologna at Pilastro’s neighbourhood with the citizens of the area