Trilogia della città di K.

A dark tale. A familiar, every day and impossible hell, tangible and abstract, derelict, and noble, cruel yet innocent. In the elegant game of doubles, a foreigner falls into the abyss of a broken childhood. A story which, all of a sudden, becomes unbelievable.

23 November - 21 December 2023

Teatro Studio Melato

«In the beginning there was language. And the language was one only. Objects, things, feelings, colours, dreams, letters, books, and newspapers were the language. I would have never imagined that there could be another language, that a human being could speak words that I would not be able to understand. Why would they do such a thing? For what reason?» (A. Kristof)
A woman steps forward into an empty circular space. She speaks with a foreign accent. She speaks slowly. She tells a dark fable of innocence and evil. Is it the story of her life?
In a town on the front line of one of the many wars, a mother entrusts her twin children to their grandmother, who to them is a stranger, a witch, and a murderer. This is the story of their bond, their trauma, their lies to each other, and their getting lost among the pages of a notebook from a world written in an incomprehensible language. The progressive series of characters that constantly multiply takes on the aspect of strange cards; animated panels that translate the scene in the narrator’s mental theatre. The story fills with purity and atrocity, broken beings described with a surgical precision. Their actions and small, maniacal gestures define their presence. Four arcane figures, close to the foreigner on the stage, gradually join her to lend voice and body to all the characters in the story, taking their first steps in the world that the story presents: a strange and familiar hell, both every day and impossible, tangible yet abstract, derelict and noble, cruel and innocent. Through the elegant play of doubles, in the end it becomes difficult to believe anyone; anything could have always been a lie.
«Not everything can be explained, it does no good. There is little to say about exile, death, or pain. They are facts. Nothing more.» (A.K.)

The plays of Thursday 23 November, Saturday 2, 9 and 16 December are subtitled in English

Duration: 190’ including an interval

Learn more

Booklet

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«In the beginning there was language. And the language was one only. Objects, things, feelings, colours, dreams, letters, books, and newspapers were the language. I would have never imagined that there could be another language, that a human being could speak words that I would not be able to understand. Why would they do such a thing? For what reason?» (A. Kristof)
A woman steps forward into an empty circular space. She speaks with a foreign accent. She speaks slowly. She tells a dark fable of innocence and evil. Is it the story of her life?
In a town on the front line of one of the many wars, a mother entrusts her twin children to their grandmother, who to them is a stranger, a witch, and a murderer. This is the story of their bond, their trauma, their lies to each other, and their getting lost among the pages of a notebook from a world written in an incomprehensible language. The progressive series of characters that constantly multiply takes on the aspect of strange cards; animated panels that translate the scene in the narrator’s mental theatre. The story fills with purity and atrocity, broken beings described with a surgical precision. Their actions and small, maniacal gestures define their presence. Four arcane figures, close to the foreigner on the stage, gradually join her to lend voice and body to all the characters in the story, taking their first steps in the world that the story presents: a strange and familiar hell, both every day and impossible, tangible yet abstract, derelict and noble, cruel and innocent. Through the elegant play of doubles, in the end it becomes difficult to believe anyone; anything could have always been a lie.
«Not everything can be explained, it does no good. There is little to say about exile, death, or pain. They are facts. Nothing more.» (A.K.)

The plays of Thursday 23 November, Saturday 2, 9 and 16 December are subtitled in English

Duration: 190’ including an interval

Learn more

Booklet

Read

Meetings and insights

Chi è di scena? Trilogia della città di K.

Teatro Studio Melato

28 November - 14 December 2023

Discover

Nero favola. Da A. Kristóf ai Fratelli Grimm

Chiostro Nina Vinchi

30 November 2023

Discover

I paesaggi dell'altrove

Pirelli HangarBicocca

2 December 2023

Discover

Doppio gioco. Traumi, sogni e menzogne nella città di K.

Chiostro Nina Vinchi

11 December 2023

Discover

Un meraviglioso groviglio

Teatro Studio Melato

19 December 2023

Discover

Credits

Trilogia della città di K.
PREMIERE
a project by Federica Fracassi e Fanny & Alexander
based on the novel of the same name by Ágota Kristóf
adaptation and stage play by Chiara Lagani
directed by Luigi De Angelis

sets, lighting and video by Luigi De Angelis
costumes Gianluca Sbicca
music and sound design Mirto Baliani and Emanuele Wiltsch Barberio
multimedia staging Michele Mescalchin
stage sculptures Nicola Fagnani

with Federica Fracassi Agota Kristof, Clara, Mother, elderly, Mother in the dream
and with (in alphabetical order)
Andrea Argentieri Underling, Peter, Joseph the grocer, Old patient, Man from the embassy, Man in the dream, Doctor, Deserter, Father in the dream
Consuelo Battiston Yasmine, Sophie, Young woman in the hotel, Nurse, Antonia, Pregnant woman
Alessandro Berti Lucas, Claus
Lorenzo Gleijeses Officer, Victor, Michael the insomniac, Klaus

with the participation, in video, of

twins as children Leone Maria Baiocco
twins as adolescents Yari Montemagno
mother Marta Malvestiti
father Fausto Cabra
grandmother Anna Coppola
bookshop owner/cobbler Giovanni Franzoni
Harelip Cloe Romano
Patient Renato Sarti
Officer Mauro Milone
Attendant Alfonso De Vreese
Children Vittorio Consoli, Domenico Iodice, Nicolò Latte Bovio
Youngsters Andrea Bezziccheri, Ion Donà, Edoardo Sabato*
Soldier Lorenzo Vio*
Cousin, nurse Giada Ciabini*
Sectioned mother Federica Fracassi
Sarah Nina Romano
Nun Chiara Lagani

and the voices of
twins as children Vittorio Consoli
Harelip Virginia Consoli
Maid Chiara Lagani
Father Jasmine Woody Neri
Klaus Renzo Martinelli

With thanks to Chandra Livia Candiani for having lent her voice for the character of Mathias

*students from the Claudia Giannotti course at the Luca Ronconi Academy of Theatre of the Piccolo Teatro di Milano

director’s assistant Filippo Trevisan
costume assistant Marta Solari

a Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa production

surtitles by Prescott Studio
multimedia support for surtitles Lyri

Tickets
Category of performance Piccolo Production
Stalls full price € 40 | Discounted (under 26 and over 65) € 23
Balcony full price € 32 | Discounted (under 26 and over 65) € 20

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The performance is available for subscription holders
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Organised groups and audiences
For information on tickets for organised groups:
tel. +39 02 72 333 216
email promozione.pubblico@piccoloteatromilano.it