Verona, great theatre. 2024 opens with Marco Paolini, on stage “Sani! theater in brackets"
As part of the thirty-seventh edition, from 9 to 14 January the Nuovo will host the show by and with Marco Paolini. Saba Anglana and Lorenzo Monguzzi are also on stage with him.
Thursday 11 January, at 18pm, the artists will meet the public.
Fourth appointment with the review “The Great Theatre” organized by the Municipality of Verona and the Teatro Stabile di Verona – Theater Production Centre. To usher in the new year is the highly anticipated “Healthy! Theater in brackets” by and with Marco Paolini, on stage at the Teatro Nuovo from Tuesday 9th to Saturday 13th January, at 20.45pm, and Sunday 14th at 16pm.
On stage, together with him, Saba Anglana and Lorenzo Monguzzi, authors and live performers of the music of the show which is produced by Michela Signori and Jolefilm. The lights are by Michele Mescalchin, the sound by Piero Chinello, the technical direction by Marco Busetto.
The underlying theme of the show is autobiographical. In his stories Paolini recounts moments of small and large, personal and collective crises that changed the course of things, starting from the underlying themes of climate crisis and ecological transition.
We start and end with two stories already told in the “Factory of the world“, the project by Marco Paolini and Telmo Pievani broadcast by Rai3 in January 2022. It begins with the story about the weight of well-being (the Artificial) in relation to the weight of biomass (the Natural). On the scene, an enormous house of cards shows the fragility of the balance of every ecological system, whether natural or artificial. In rapid succession Paolini narrates the Cold War crisis which had Stanislav Petrov as its protagonist and the weekend in Iceland, in Höfði, which changed the fate of the world. It tells of Gemona and Rosina, of the loneliest man in the world, of the weight of things, of the 2020 lockdown and of the effort needed to build a project for the future.
The opening and closing stories, "Cathedral", they underline that it is not enough to be aware of the crisis: a lot of courage and imagination are needed, because we cannot go back to before. Wishing it is human but it is not useful, nor practical.
"The crisis - says Marco Paolini – they are at the bottom, they are elements of everyday life that have no space in our agenda, they are not emergencies that end, but phases. It matters how we tell ourselves: there are those who say "I already know", and there are those who don't want to listen. In theater you have to be careful to transform these themes into something that has appeal. I try with irony, with songs and stories, personal, shareable. I try to make it clear that when you are at a crossroads, you always have a choice."
“Music in a theater in brackets – add Anglana and Monguzzi – it is a quick suggestion, capable of creating contrast and connection, as well as, as always in Marco Paolini's shows, a dramaturgical element in itself, capable of actively participating in the narrative. Initially, in the midst of the Covid emergency, we tried to write songs that could lighten the weight of those moments, which were also capable of telling and sharing the difficulty of those months. In an attempt to understand what was happening to us or perhaps simply because a critical issue told and shared is less scary. Today all this already seems distant and past, but singing "everything will be fine, the sheets attached to the railings" remains a short-term memory exercise that is perhaps necessary. For the rest, the music detaches itself from the news and follows the narrative on broader horizons, simple melodies supported by multiple voices and fast-paced rhythms. There are the sounds of folk music mixed with influences and styles from far away. Because perhaps music is already capable of describing a world that, unfortunately, exists only in our desires, a world without borders and capable - conclude the two musicians - of facing the challenge of its own survival together. No borders indeed”.
“Healthy! Teatro in brackets, staged at the Piccolo Teatro Strehler, is a sort of ballad – Magda Poli wrote in the “Corriere della Sera” –. It starts from the yesterday of his irresistible albums, like the compelling counter-encounter with the brilliant, hyper-egocentric, provocative artist Carmelo Bene in 1983, and arrives at the ferocious contradictions of our today."
“Healthy! – commented Alto Adige – confirms Paolini's usual ability to capture precise moments of the past capable of explaining the present to us, and uses the pandemic period to show us how much our lifestyle is hanging by a thin thread, without, however, forgetting our innate acrobatic abilities which we have."
On Thursday 11th, at 18pm, the performers will meet the public. The artistic director of Spettacolo of the Municipality of Verona Carlo Mangolini will host. Admission is free.
Tickets are on sale at the Teatro Nuovo, at Box Office and on line It is on link.
The prices are: stalls 26 euros, balcony 23 euros, first gallery 15 euros, second gallery 10 euros.
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