Abbecedario per il mondo nuovo – Antigone
Antigone by Valentina Gamna, with Alfonso De Vreese, Leda Kreider, Lorenzo Frediani and Francesca Osso.
Podcast online on Spreaker from Friday 16 April 2021
A, a, aaa… Aston Martin. Astyanax. And following Astyanax: Andromache, Ajax, Argonauts, Aphrodite, Achelous... I began to think of the ancient Greeks, and of thew fact that without them, I wouldn’t have wanted to go anywhere. For me, the new world was supposed to have begun there, with the gods and heroes, with Philosophy, with the Parthenon and the Theatre, The image of Antigone came later, when I had set aside the idea of the ancient Greeks. Antigone did not emerge in the list of “a”s from the Greek world. She followed a path that was hers alone. But the fact that her name begins with that letter made me think that perhaps it was her that I wanted to examine in this moment in time. Sophocles’s Antigone is a woman who follows the laws of the heart, and it is those same laws of the heart that I hope can be found and followed by each and every one of us in the new world. Each to their own, and all different. Laws that do not conform to logic, to reason, to success, to being ordinary. I hope that each and every one of us can find their own very personal sentiment, discovered through a profound contact with their own needs and essence. There are no ministerial decrees in my Antigone, no red zones or orange zones with increased restrictions, just a young woman with a chosen path that everyone else considers to be absurd, useless and wring. A young woman who frees herself from the opinions of others and rejects the image that the world revolves around her. A very small decision. My Antigone is not a revolutionary, she does not aim to become a symbol of something in opposition to something else, she does not adhere to any ideology. She takes a different path, a small step that splits the world apart. Valentina Gamna
Synopsis
Antigone, the most popular employee of the company led by Creon, asks for permission to celebrate her brother's birthday. Creon denies it to her, but Antigone goes to the party anyway, leaving behind her career, boyfriend and family. Creon remains alone, motionless and mute, while the company collapses around him.
Biography
Valentina Gamna was born in Milan in 1987. She graduated in Cultural Heritage Sciences and gained a diploma in Dramaturgy at the “Paolo Grassi Civic School of Theatre” and worked as a playwright (Coleotteri; Mai Home/Ho.me; Tana) and director’s assistant (Ultima Notte Mia, by Aldo Nove, with Erika Urban and directed by Michele De Vita Conti, produced by Teatro i). Her work Mai Home, which received the special mention “Fabulamundi – Beyond Borders?” in collaboration with the “Hystrio - Playwriting Award”, was staged in Milan (FE - Fabbrica dell’Esperienza), Salerno (Mutaverso Festival) and Heidelberg (KulturFestival Italia) by the “Vernicefresca” company. Valentina has also worked as a scenographer (Due volte, directed by Domenico Onorato, first prize for short at the International Tulipani di seta nera Film Festival by Rai Cinema; Best Short Award and popular jury award at the Carpine D’Argento Short Film Festival Visciano). From 2014 to 2020 she collaborated as a Professor in Cinematic Writing with the “Paolo Grassi Civic School of Theatre” and as a journalist for Radio Lombardia and the newspaper Affari Italiani. She has been part of the Communication and Media Relations team at the Cassa Depositi e Presiti for a year.
Abbecedario per il mondo nuovo
a Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa production
in collaborazione with the Hystrio – Playwriting Award and the Riccione “Pier Vittorio Tondelli” Award
directed by Lisa Ferlazzo Natoli and Alessandro Ferroni