Argonauti
Argonauts
20/10/2005, 
21:00 21/10/2005, 22:30
conceived and directed by Giorgio Barberio Corsetti
dramatists Giorgio Barberio Corsetti and Raquel Silva
with Fortunato Cerlino, Milena Costanzo, Filippo Dini, Damien Fournier, Agnès Fustagueras Puig, Sophie Kantorovizc, Xavier Martin, Axel Minaret, Federica Santoro, Filippo Timi
assistant director Raquel Silva
music Gianfranco Tedeschi
live electronics Daniela Cattivelli
set Giorgio Barberio Corsetti, Mariano Lucci, Marina Schindler
costumes Marina Schindler
lights Gianluca Cappelletti
production Fondazione Musica per Roma, Fattore K
duration 2h15'
The production is inspired by the Argonautika of Apollonius Rhodius, and tells the deeds of the group of Greek heroes who set off to win the Golden Fleece. The stories of the various characters will be narrated up to the moment when they set sail for this collective adventure, then we will recount their long voyage, the deception and violence involved in the quest for the mythical fleece, and the love of Medea the sorceress for Jason.
All this will be set in the present day, as if we were able to be part of the crew and deeds like this were still possible.
After Le Metamorfosi and the magic age of the transformations narrated in Di animali, uomini e dei, we go back to Greek mythology and will be looking this time at the age of heroes and their deeds and at the violence and fear which spring from every action.
The project is conceived as a journey, not only because it recounts the crossing of unknown and inaccessible seas and places but also because it is intended to be one that can be adapted to very different kinds of spaces and settings.
It will have its first performance in Rome, in the open-air amphitheatre of the Auditorium, which is at the same time a piazza and a theatre. The hard-hitting contemporary scenes of this production will be set off by the right kind of materials – stone, bricks, iron and wood – in the suspended, living, enigmatic space of the amphitheatre, with the city breathing around it.
After being created Argonauti will set off on its voyage and come to land in very different kinds of settings – theatres, warehouses, open-air amphitheatres. During this voyage it will be transformed, be enhanced by new episodes, adapt itself and take on new life and strength from the energy of the various places in which it will be performed.
Is it possible to think of heroic, symbolic deeds? How much remains in contemporary life of those ancient exploits? Is it not true to say that deep down in every adventure we undertake there can be seen the glimmer of the Golden Fleece?
The sets will be movable and flexible, easily adaptable: bridges and supporting structures for flights through the air which can easily be fixed wherever needed, steel cables crossing space, large cloth sheets, water and fire when possible, but above all the bodies of the heroes, the actor-acrobats, which will be spurred into performing all sorts of mental and physical feats and acrobatic and vocal displays of skill worthy of the great undertaking on which they have embarked.
The music, naturally, the use of images and video, all serving to tell the story of the heroes, of where they come from, who they are, how they came together for this voyage.
These are stories which closely resemble those of each one of us when, at a certain point of our lives, we decide to embark upon any kind of venture or project, even if it is a purely imaginary one.
Giorgio Barberio Corsetti
