 My name is Annalisa Satya, I'm the moderator of this evening's talk. And I'm a scholar from the University of Bologna, Italy. I'm now a visiting scholar in the Newspaper King. Well, I've been following the work of Motus, it's a fantastic group for drama studies. Since around 16 years, maybe 15, from around 1996. Quite a long time. And I believe this work around Artiglione to be one of the most powerful and complex they ever made so far. And in fact, the work you have seen this evening, Alexis, is only the fourth episode, the fourth contest of a wider project composed by four different contests. The first one produced in 2009. So, three years ago. And the title was like the sunshine in. Then they produced Too Late, which is performed last year during the other year, as well. And then you will hear. And then this one. Well, actually there is a fifth project, but it's quite different because it's produced along with Judith Molina in the theater. And you can probably join, as in a Monday, because it's days. Yeah, and it's part of the other project as well. And the title is The Brought is the Revolution. Well, Artiglione follows this project around Artiglione, follows a line of continuity somehow with their previous project, which was titled The X, The Current Planes of Youth. And in that project, Modus addressed problems like issues like youth and revolt and generational conflict. So we should probably start from showing something from X. All right, I'm trying to speak English when I am not able to explain myself. Well, yes. So yes, this was, for us, a wonderful project because we decided with this project to go out of our room to start the project outside. And it's something that changed our mind thinking theater, thinking what happened inside after this period that we spent outside. So we start there and all the Antigone project, it's a continuation about thinking about theater in this way. So I want to show you, it's subtended in English, just a small part of the project because in this show, there is a lot of video, but in another way, in this one, it's more captured and more monta to have two different types of deconstruction. And this show is different from the other ones and it's constructed different, so it's going to show you, like a little purge about the show, and in this part, there is a very important speech regarding this generational encounter. And the footage that he's going to show, it's a little fragment of the exhibit. X, there is a very strong generational encounter. There's like an encounter, like an encounter or like an encounter between generations. Thank you. You're open. Thank you. Here we are, it's a project that we did in many cities. Here we are in Naples. Here you can see a project in the project of Naples, the city of Naples. We have also presented it in Germany, in France, always working on it. This is like a morning in the sun, you can't go out anymore. They perform in France, in France and also... At 5 in the morning, at 6 in the morning, at 7 in the morning, there's still nothing. At 8, the people of the whole planet are looking in the face. No one knows what to do. We've prepared everything, explosions, controls, plastic, the scene, beautiful faces, the supermarkets, the lights, the air-conditioning, like the central market, the Kela, the cocaine, the puerce, the drugs, because they talk to you in 1968, the IDS, the attacks, the police, the death of the other specialists, the police, the politics, the lines, the sms, the controls, the dots, the fines, the gratification, the wrong transactions, the pedophiles, the places, the burgers, the internet. The air-conditioning, the air-conditioning, the air-conditioning, the air-conditioning, I need something to surprise me, otherwise I'll die. We're ready for everything, yes, yes, we're ready for everything, or better, ready for action, but not for reaction. What else? What's the use of the freedom of speech if we have nothing to say? But don't you hear it? There's a new kind of hatred, softened by being faithful and loving. With shopping, with a model of all the behaviors, and the only things that are worth it are those that can be put in the trash. To survive, to prevent them from living, and I don't want to know of a way in which the guarantee of not dying of hunger changes with the risk of dying of boredom. I mean, nothing, nothing, anyone can see it from everywhere. But I fight, I try, I want something to happen and I see it, but full. To want dead times, to keep going, it would be faster in different environments, and to take different forms, to take the risk of spying on the first person, and then why escape, to go where? The world is complete. I believe in the possibility to create a body, an emerging physical game, capable of uniting all the colors that, like me, are negating, that they understand that they need to understand, that they understand that people of their age begin to die. Go fuck yourself, go fuck yourself, go fuck yourself, go fuck yourself. An emerging physical game, an invisible insertion of the body against all those fucking tests that are too bold to take into account of the boredom, too... too bourgeois to take into account that they are depressed and sick. Too cynical, to put down the command, to raise the finger in the sky and to run away. We wanted to show this video, this work of art, because for us it is very important. And the previous project, from that of his old, the director... the director... the director... The director... Right! We prefer... I tried to speak English, but... It's okay, I mean, just slow it. For them, it's very important to have this, to see this spreading of this video. Because the project that they did before, the Antigone project, was born in a desire to look for a tragic figure that could completely move the axis of our dramatic work. She wanted to find that tragic figure character, and so that's what she, I mean, she did some research about Antigone. Okay, in this video, Silvia was looking to them. She was giving kind of violence to the first two people. And they were within... I was myself, if you are... And everyone was like lost in the world? No. No, that everyone was... I'm looking for myself. I'll show you your lost messages. Just go in this number. Okay, nice. Thank you. If you are also lost, please take me in. And these messages that the people were sending, Silvia was later becoming a part of the Dramaturti. So you are able to create a course? Yes. A body? Yes. They were trying to enlarge the film. Just... I say small phrases out of nowhere. Yes, small phrases out of nowhere. Because I have the tool I want. No, no, it's not. It's much. It's much. Okay. Okay. Okay. Because I have the tool I want. No, no, it's not. It's much. This idea of starting from a loneliness. From the people of the teenagers that were meeting during all this research. And to start from this loneliness and from this... idea of waiting. Another image of this project was the bench. The bench in the park or in the commercial center. Another image of this project was the bench. The bench or in the park or in the commercial center. From this idea of isolation, waiting and planning, we tried to move the research center on the movements, on the collective movements, on the revolution and on the subdivision. From these concepts of loneliness, planning, nation, between persons. Between persons. We tried to move and to find the movement. Yeah, movement, movement. Political movement. Political movement. Also, in Italy, the last two or three years, the teenagers have already started to go out from the houses and maybe to meet each other. After really the 70s. This is a very strong signal. That I have just said, to try to interact with this old project, these different feelings. I know. You speak better Italian than I do. So, to catch what? So they tried to catch these movements, which were ongoing in this period. To do this, we started the project of Antigone with a big workshop. It's as big because there were many people involved in this workshop. This workshop was not open just for actors, but also for other people. We met very well in this workshop. But also people who were directly involved in these movements. Like people from the University, La Catolica in Rome. People who were who were writers. Video makers and other people who were working in different fields or genres. And with this workshop, they opened the question, who is Antigone for you today? And during this workshop, it occurred that Alexis was shot. It was in the same time. I have to write down because... Because we are sorry, but it's very difficult to... If you want to speak... She said that I was also in the workshop that I could also speak about this workshop. Ok, so I speak directly about it. But I can just speak from the view of an actor or participant. What I saw in this workshop, what was really interesting, was that there was a dispositive there which was already somehow meta-theatrical. There were lamps we could move, lights we could move, microphones we could use on stage. So talking about what we did, talking about what we were staging, was something which came naturally to us. And this is an element which you can find in all the three contests, and also in Alexis, which is the last work of this process. This was then combined with the myth of Antigone, and with the facts which occurred in Greece, which was the shooting of Alexis and all the movement which started afterwards. The interesting thing maybe was also that in the workshop there were, as Nico Daniela said, there were present also people who were involved in Italian movements. So somehow there was a combination of people and events which was really interesting. What was also present in this first workshop as a material was somehow the things which occurred in the 60s and 70s. Things which occurred in theatre. For example, we studied the play of Antigone by the living theatre which was also works of Fassbinder and also the Rottermeinfaction, which was this terrorist group in Germany, which was really strong in the area. What we got from there was the discussion of terrorism and of use of violence. Should we use violence or not? This is a big question. Also now with the movement of Occupy Wall Street, it was an issue and they answered in a really clear way. Also for this project Antigone, this was a big question all through the whole process. So these questions were always kind of open in order to give... Like questions for the audience too. There are questions for us, but also questions for the audience. We would like to share this kind of big question. We think that if you give just answers, you close everything in front of the audience and the audience has not the space to get in this question and find their own way. Underline something about this idea of community because one of the core issues in Antigone is the relation between Antigone and his brother, but to the death body of that body of his brother. So it seems to me that this kind of relation opens up to a form of inner love or faithfulness of the brotherhood, which is the same one we can find in the form of community you are exploring. I mean a community of brothers, right? A community of brothers, which is actually the localised, has no one particular place, but many places. A community of people manifesting in most trading in Italy or in London or generally in the UK now, occupied with the street and so on. So can you trace, can you explore further this idea of brotherhood since maybe the first show, the first contest it performed, which is a question about the relation between Antigone and Polynesia and it seems to me that it poses the question of community. In the project of Antigone, the question of brotherhood is one of the most important questions, in our point of view, being Antigone, sister of his father. In Antigone, for us, one of the main questions is brotherhood, so between Antigone and her brother Polynesia. Polynesia. So starting from this originality that already exists in this family, probably, there came the idea of to integrate this type of relationship, in a deeper way than other relationships that exist in Antigone. So what we find in the myth of Antigone was a horizontal way of living family. And this is a thing which we were really interested in and so because of that we decided to stick more on that thing and to not go on the ground of other things. To not go deeper, no, not deeper. So in the first contest, in the first study of Antigone, we went really deep into this question of brotherhood between Antigone and Polynesia. And you can see here the images behind us from these first rehearsals about this theme. So we decided to do the first contest, we chose to do it in open space or in old abandoned factories or in places that are not theatrical. And now we can show you a fragment of the video to understand what kind of preparation and work we did. We decided to make this contest not in theatres but in unconventional spaces like all the industrial fabrics or open spaces. And here we can see some images about this first contest. You are just sitting in the center in the middle of the sea and the two actors are playing on the left side and on the right side of the audience arriving Alexis but for other reasons. Our brothers are both dead. They can't even be buried. And Teocle, who hasn't kept the war, will have to take revenge on the body of the young Polynesian who died so miserably. They say that in the city, claimed that he was not buried, and that he was not buried, he must be without a tombstone. Sweet paste to the cells and whoever transgresses will be beaten. These are the orders that the nobility gave you. The past, if you don't let it be, it remains the past. Do you know that I like a lot that you are on the back? Yes. Yes, I would imagine so. One that is on the back of the audience, she is in fifth when she speaks. Well, I tell you, it is one that starts from here, from the center of the space, runs towards the gap, runs, runs, runs, runs towards the gap, runs towards the gap, runs, runs, runs, runs, runs towards the gap, run, runs, run, falls. I think it's better if you don't make some questions. So we are going to have some questions. Where is the mic? It will need more fun. We'll be okay. Can I have the one microphone I have a question about the use of the word, and again, this is a translation thing, so thank you. Is the word contest, why are they contests, one, two and three, does it make sense? We started from this idea of contests, because we were confronting two actors on stage or on the theatrical space we used, like hip-hop dancers do, so you are kind of together, but you are challenging yourself, yeah. And the rhythm, this, the rap contest creates, this rhythm seems as appropriate to describe also these studies around the TV. What is the significance of waving the flag in the background, that it represents a country or? Using this flag is like the negation, putting, raising this flag, which is a flag of flowers, which means cutting out all the flags, which has a symbol, which represents nations, or something like that. Yes? I'm interested in your way of working, for example, when you started with the workshop, that was the first thing, and then what? Then this. There were many steps. From this beginning of the workshop, we wanted to keep this sense of, you know, a sense of the rehearsal space, so also the question continuously, what we are staging, why we are doing something on stage, is something we wanted to keep. So this questioning was also concentrated on the characters. So what came out in the workshop was that people were asking themselves what their character is like, or what's his significance, and this is also something which was kept on through all these four works. You do ask this question a lot in the work about the theatre and the role of theatre, or the role of the artist. And in your early works you're obviously exploring other spaces, the rehearsal room, is a space that the industrial space with the audience in the middle and the contests on either side, but there's something very interesting about the site you use in Naples in the morning, in the market, but I'm just wondering if you feel that in the end this is something that you don't know, because you're asking this question and yet there is a deferral traditional stage. So it was a clear decision to return on a classical stage after these three productions, which were used in different spaces. So we decided to work outside these traditional spaces for a lot of time. And we wanted to confront the audience with classical theatres as well. Because in Italy, especially in Italy, people who attend classical theatres would not get in contact with these kinds of languages, artistic languages, I want to say. And it is really interesting to see which dialogue and that it can create dialogue in these spaces and with this type of audience. Because in other cases, sometimes when we made these works in different spaces, in non-conventional spaces and so on, it is somehow easier because you already know that people would somehow think of you away. So there's not an antagonistic dialogue. Which type of classical space that you have worked in or the other types of spaces that you have worked in, which have you found more popular and more productive? For this project, there is no such thing as a specific space. You can really do it wherever you want. You don't want to know where it is more productive. If it is outside, if it is inside... But for me, the choice of having made the theatrical spaces could also be seen. It is very, very classic, it creates its own strength because it creates a contrast and so you see it as an audience that you would never see. To make it in traditional spaces has its power because it creates this kind of conflict with, as I said before, between an audience which is not used to this and maybe which would also disagree. So maybe, for example, this maybe could not be considered one of these traditional spaces because we are talking about the classical Italians here, with the lords. This kind of theatre. This place is... the conflict is very... Because there are many audience members who have the membership so they just go and see whatever it is, if it is opera or if it is Alexis. I would like to say something about that. For me, it is very important to be in such spaces because I think that when you are doing art that is political you have to question why you are doing this and what is the purpose and how art can be political. And I think it is something that started mainly in the 60s. Like in May 68, it was exactly how art was helping all the revolts and they were using art in order to inform people and to give messages. Like they were using all the posters and graphic design. Using posters. Yeah, exactly. So for me it is very important to inform people and so we have to reach as many people as we can. So it is not very important if you are doing it in alternative spaces or not. It is not this question for me at least. It is that the people have to know what has happened and if we are talking about a multitude in it. Multitudes? Multitudes. Then you have to reach, that is the purpose of that action. You have always to have in your mind that you should... Yes, we work a bit like for me as a messenger. We are bringing... So do you think this type of thing is striking a chord in the present Greek situation, political situation? Yeah, of course. Is it really striking a chord? Is it making an impact? Have you reported it in Greece? No. Not yet. Not yet. I think that in Greece it would be very different. I think that it would be very interesting for them to see how somebody that is not Greek has worked on this issue. But I think it is something completely different because already in Greece the people know what has happened because they live. So it may be more interesting. So it is something completely different. Because for me when I perform abroad I am trying to explain to the people how this got started and what has happened to Greece. I was watching the show. I felt tempted to compare it and see it in the context of Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring. But I think that that is actually wrong, that there are actually more differences than similarities in the European protest youth, especially since it happened in 2008. Can you talk a little bit about the differences between the two protest spirits? Yeah. It is not easy. I think that every country in Europe has this story about protest and everything. Because for me, for the Greeks, they were the first ones. But after the Alexis moment, really all the country, all the people, not only young people or an activist, but all the society go outside on the streets to say is the moment to tell to the government something. And it was something that, for Italians, it didn't happen also when we were with Berlusconi and really in a dark situation. So now we are really not so clear on this issue. But that moment nobody went outside and wanted to fight against the power, also only the young people, the students. So there is really a lot of differences between each country. I think that for the Kingdom, I don't know really very well the situation there, but that two months of maybe she knows better than me, this moment was completely different than the Greek one and the Italian one because it was a rage for the town and everything. So in Europe, I think that Spain is another situation also because they start to speak to this kind of big assembly. But I think that it's a moment, this moment is a particular one for every country because we have to understand really, we love this question at the end of our show, what we have to do now. This moment, what is this? The power is there every time the same people are in the same place, but why? We have not changed, we have no possibility to do something to really be the human being that we want to be, to be here with normal life without this financial stuff that the children decide everything. So I know that in English for me it's too simple. I want to be more deep, of course, because I have more to tell you around, okay, but you understand my kind of engagement in this direction. This is really different from one country to the other. For example, in Germany, they react completely different. If there is something which bothers the people, they would let the government know. Like there was now this big protest against the trains which carries radioactive material. And so they stopped it. It's something really... I think the Rusconin would not exist in Germany. So there are many, many differences. And another thing I'm kind of ashamed to say is that when there was the day of Occupy Wars worldwide, only in Rome there was a violent protest. And I think people are really angry, but they don't have in Italy really the... It is really difficult to get together in Italy because everybody is fighting against the others. So the brotherhood is something really, really difficult to create. I think this is something cultural. A scenario of a person with a character who is particularly intangible, demands a high degree of athleticism. Beyond comprehension almost. She's in unbelievable physical condition. What was the intent respecting the intangible character that she was directed to express herself throughout with such physical exuberance? We cannot stop her. Sorry, but this is the last question that we have. We need to go. This is the last question. Don't say it. Of course, everybody will see it. I will see if I can say something about this. But in our way of working, we never decide before how have to be this character or never we start with one actor. You actually move in this way. You have to be like this. It's a work of real continuous share and balance with us, like directors and actors. Our antagonism is like so physically involved is because Silvia has this way of being on the stage. This way of feeling the stage and acting, action. We immediately decide to talk about Silvia for the Antigone. Because... So it's an encounter between actors and directors. It's not a decision which you made before. The work started from an empty space, little objects, really small number of objects and the bodies of the actors. Because at the beginning we had a lot of questions and the answers came out through the work with the actors. And everybody found his own way to express himself in this thing. I like to think that 2000 years ago that people spoke not just with words, but also with their bodies. I think this is maybe the thing I took to create my Antigone which is the most far away in time. My Antigone has a modern language, but an ancient body. So I just imagine that some years ago, some time ago, people would not have any problems to lie down on the floor or to sit down on the floor. So improvise.