ILIAD

 

Atelier Scimmie Nude great classics,

Scimmie Nude presents:

ILIAD

by Homer

Directed by Gaddo Bagnoli

Direction assistant Laura Rinaldi

with Alessandro Becchi, Annalisa Falché, Richard Falco,

Camilla Giacometti, Simona Ornaghi, Giulia Pini

Masks by Simona Ornaghi

Leaflet by Camilla Giacometti

Ph by Margherita Busacca

Video by Lisa Cerri

Produced by Atelier Scimmie Nude (2016)

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“The Scimmie Nude Atelier has chosen to tackle the tough task of creating a theatrical performance around the Iliad, as they already had done with Dante’s Divine Comedy, following their calling to study and rediscover the great classics of human culture.

Without doubt, this work, attributed to Homer, but more likely the work of a group of authors or simply the collection by Homer of topics and poems into a single volume, is among the most important pieces of literature ever written. And so, following its ongoing investigation into Man, the Scimmie Nude company felt the obligation to explore it through its own privileged means: the theatre.

We chose to create a performance and not a simple and more ‘respectful’ reading, because we believe that those who have always fled from these mammoth classic works out of boredom or due to the linguistic obstacles they pose can be fully involved through the theatre.

The idea was to bring Homer’s words to life, to make the work interesting for young students approaching it for the first time, and at the same time stage the piece in an original and provocative form for those already familiar with it.

The strong points of this work are its simplicity, the creativity of the solutions that have been found, and the strength of heart used by all the artists both in the composition and recital of the project.

We are aware that the selection of around one thousand verses does not cover the whole poem. Nevertheless, we deem them sufficient to conjure up the atmospheres, the colours, the power and the love that flow through this marvellous masterpiece. That which the ‘purists’ think lost or faded if not simply read, is in reality made more alive through the body, the emotion and the thought in the actors’ work. Free not to read or to withhold their physicality, the actors can literally breathe new life into these ancient verses. Indeed, the creative use of the body and voice in space creates a new perception among the public.

With their basic costumes, accompanied by masks and weapons made out of leather by the performers themselves, and the use of percussion instruments, the actors conjure up the climate, the events and the poetry of this immortal masterpiece.”

Gaddo Bagnoli

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The Scimmie Nude Atelier company is a group of professional actors who are graduates from the Scimmie Nude Theatre School in Milan.

The Scimmie Nude Atelier training course is headed by Gaddo Bagnoli, artistic director of the principal company, Scimmie Nude. The Atelier makes up the fourth and last year of the course, its aim to train young actors in the main company’s working methods and theatrical language. It is the didactic and professional research tool that year on year contributes to the Scimmie Nude’s artistic evolution.

The goal of the Scimmie Nude Atelier is therefore to create a team of young actors and to produce plays that can represent the results of their theatrical research. By so doing, it sets out to guarantee a basis for the actors’ professional careers ahead.

From 2014 to date, the work of the Scimmie Nude Atelier company has concentrated on the great classics, producing professional plays that are offered for distribution, also in schools, with the administrative and organizational support of the Associazione Scimmie Nude.

From 2014, “Inferno” from the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri,

from 2015, “Six Characters in Search of an Author” by Luigi Pirandello,

from 2016, “Iliad” by Homer,

from 2017, “Aeneid” by Virgilio.

 

RERUNS

Teatro Edi Barrio’s, 2016 June 16th, Milan

Spazio Scimmie Nude, 2016 October 7th, Milan

Istituto Tecnico Bachelet, 2017 April 3rd, Abbiategrasso (Mi)

Spazio Scimmie Nude, 2017 April 30, Milan

Spazio Aità, 2017 May 7th, Brescia

Piccolo Festival, 2017 July 11st, Montecchio Emilia

Festival Classico Contemporaneo, 8th August 2017, Naples

Translation by Karen Whittle.