La Macchina dei Sogni
Il palazzo delle cento stanze
The palace of a hundred rooms
Palermo 14-18 October, Museo Archeologico Regionale A. Salinas
The intelligence of the present lies in the knowledge of the past.
Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli
La Macchina dei Sogni was never intended for traditional performance venues, but for spaces organized and set up for the occasion. The environments of the Archaeological Museum will, therefore, be the genius loci of our project, inspired by one of the richest archaeological collections in Italy. This collection bears witness to Sicilian history through all its eras, from prehistory to the Middle Ages, taking us into the heart of the Mediterranean, the neuralgic center of history. It is a place of choice for innovation and social experimentation, a fluid territory where peoples moved from East to West and from North to South, giving rise to a mosaic of cultures populated by ancient myths and legends. These stories tell of intertwining and contaminations that lead back to the dawn of Western civilization.
The myth of Europa is emblematic, the maiden abducted by Zeus on a Lebanese beach and brought to Crete. From her union with the father of the gods, three sons will be born. In this female figure, whose story narrates the mythical origins of our continent, the history of the Mediterranean, and thus our history, is synthesized. The myth of Europa has been told and revisited countless times, and in more recent years it has assumed a multicultural significance. One of the most beautiful representations in figurative art is described on a small Selinuntine metope, preserved at the Salinas Museum, where Europa crosses the sea riding a white bull (Zeus) surrounded by large, splashing fish.
From the myth of Europa to that of Medusa, the transition is swift. Medusa is linked to the image of our beautiful Island, a fertile and industrious land. The Museum has dedicated its Agora – the quintessential place of democracy and assemblies in the polis – to Medusa, who was fated to be cursed by a goddess and immortalized in her final breath: a stifled scream invoking the love of men.
All the activities of the Festival – exhibitions, shows, installations – will thus interact with the rich archaeological collection housed within the Museum. The centrality of oral storytelling, supported by a diverse and high-quality cultural offering, will be the main ingredient of this 37th edition, which, as every year, will be unique and unrepeatable in its themes, setting, and proposals.
For us, the perimeter of classical culture is “a reservoir of values in which we can still recognize ourselves” (Salvatore Settis), “not a refuge from which to keep sufficiently distant the dangers and inconsistencies of contemporaneity, but rather a method of comparison and research that can guide the construction of the future, to relate to what is ‘foreign’ without indulging in ideological and a priori negations, nor in hasty and superficial identifications” (Caterina Greco).
Our project is aimed especially at young people, to whom we want to demonstrate how much correspondence there is between mythological stories and everyday life. Contemporary events intertwine with myth and confront it, offering reflections on the enormous dramas faced by contemporary man. Greek myths are rooted in our consciousness, nestling in it as archetypes, structuring our minds without us even realizing it. Therefore, the performances produced and hosted are linked to the theme of myth.
The shows “The Wrath of Achilles” and “Medusa,” in particular, are produced by our company. The first unfolds on three scenic planes: the men/puppets, the priests/puppet masters, and the gods/actors, in a happy contamination of different oral and performative traditions that is evident from the start. The dramaturgy, always linear, follows the Iliad step by step without ever trivializing or simplifying. The music, the urgent rhythm of the scenes and dialogues, but above all the pure, intact, absolute pleasure of storytelling, which rediscovers the ancient art of Homeric rhapsodes, take us back in time and the story takes shape and voice through the puppets, the performers, and the actors.
In “Medusa,” the traditions of puppet theater and opera coexist. The plot draws from mythical tales of the Gorgon, specifically those from the Hellenistic period, whose sources tell of a beautiful maiden turned into a monster by the goddess Athena, angered by the desecration of her sanctuary following the maiden’s embrace with the sea god Poseidon.
“Fagiolino Asino d’oro” by the Teatro del Drago company from Ravenna is a variety art show, reminiscent of a decadent 19th-century circus centered around a “scenic-choreographic” structure of disorganized traveling artists. The simple and immediate comedy is one of the elements that links the three different genres present in the show: puppet theater, the ancient art of storytelling, and the juggling of street artists. The performance is inspired by Apuleius’s “L’asino d’oro” but the protagonist of the story is Fagiolino, the hero of traditional Emilia Romagna puppets. “Cassandra” by Elisabetta Pozzi proceeds through literary memories concerning the mythological character, a collage of recollections narrated in the first person.
The dramaturgy of the show benefits from the contribution of Massimo Fini, with whom the actress constructed the ending, a sort of tragic epilogue in which Cassandra sees the future of modern man, who with his inability to set limits has now become “a tiny spider at the center of an immense web that now weaves itself and of which he is the only prisoner.”
For children, the program includes “African Tales” and “The Shape of Stories,” two shows by the La Voce delle Cose company from Bergamo. Fairy tales represent the world map that a society transmits to future generations. This is even more necessary in those societies where there is no written language, where fairy tale, epic, and mythological narratives are not completely distinct, and where listening to each of these involves the entire population.
Scilla e Cariddi by the Teatro degli Spiriti company from Palermo tells the extraordinary adventure of chases, seas, loves, and sea monsters that will lead Scylla to meet Charybdis. And finally, the inevitable “Pulcinella” by Bruno Leone, an irreverent character dealing with the unexpected events of daily life, the absolute protagonist who faces and defeats his adversaries, dispensing lessons of life and common sense.
Visit the FaceBook page dedicated to La Macchina dei Sogni 2020
CALENDAR
14 October
10.30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. | Viaggio avventuroso tra storie, miti e leggende (An adventurous journey through stories, myths and legends) – Figli d’Arte Cuticchio
6:00 p.m. | Scilla e Cariddi (Scylla and Charybdis)– Teatro degli Spiriti
9:00 p.m. | Cassandra o dell’inganno (Cassandra or The Deception)– Elisabetta Pozzi
15 October
10.30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. | Viaggio avventuroso tra storie, miti e leggende (An adventurous journey through stories, myths and legends) – Figli d’Arte Cuticchio
6:00 p.m. | Storie di Pulcinella (Stories of Pulcinella) – Bruno Leone
6:30 p.m. | book presentation Museo Nazionale, 150 opere d’arte della storia d’Italia (National Museum, 150 works of art from the history of Italy)by Monica Onofrio
9:00 p.m. | Fagiolino Asino d’Oro (Fagiolino, The Golden Donkey) – Teatro del Drago
16 October
10.30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. | Viaggio avventuroso tra storie, miti e leggende (An adventurous journey through stories, myths and legends) – Figli d’Arte Cuticchio
3:00 p.m. | In viaggio con Ulisse nella terra dei bambini (Travelling with Ulysses in the land of children) – Workshop for Children
6:00 p.m. | La forma delle storie (The shape of stories) – Luì Angelini – La voce delle cose
9:00 p.m. | L’ira di Achille (The Wrath of Achilles) – Figli d’Arte Cuticchio
17 October
10.30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. | Viaggio avventuroso tra storie, miti e leggende (An adventurous journey through stories, myths and legends) – Figli d’Arte Cuticchio
3:00 p.m. | In viaggio con Ulisse nella terra dei bambini (Travelling with Ulysses in the land of children) – Workshop for Children
6:00 p.m. | Fiabe africane (I) – Paola Serafini – La voce delle cose
9:00 p.m. | L’ira di Achille (The Wrath of Achilles) – Figli d’Arte Cuticchio
18 October
10.30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. | Viaggio avventuroso tra storie, miti e leggende (An adventurous journey through stories, myths and legends) – Figli d’Arte Cuticchio
6:00 p.m. | In viaggio con Ulisse nella terra dei bambini (Travelling with Ulysses in the land of children) – Workshop for Children
9:00 p.m. | Mythos, il racconto infinito (Mythos, the infinite tale) – Conversazione con Maurizio Bettini / A seguire la proiezione di Medusa
Creative workshop
“In viaggio con Ulisse nella terra dei bambini”
Travelling with Ulysses in the land of children
“Traveling with Ulysses in the Land of Children” is a creative workshop (only in italian) aimed at children aged 6 to 10. Based on the construction of paper and clay puppets, the workshop aims to retell the timeless myth of the Odyssey through a fresh and contemporary perspective, focusing on the child’s point of view. By creating a story based on mythological narration, each child will be able to bring to life the characters they have built, embarking on a journey into the human soul and today’s world. Special attention will be given to the children’s experiences in relation to major social issues, from environmental concerns to a transforming society. It’s an introspective journey to discover themselves, but also the world around us, where monsters, giants, and dangerous creatures metaphorically dwell, posing challenges, but also heroic and adventurous figures ready to listen, support, and protect, offering opportunities for growth and development.
The workshop, led by Sara Cuticchio, a psychologist and child psychotherapist, will take place over three afternoon sessions, each lasting three hours. These sessions will include the creation of a story, the making of puppets, and a performance with the marionettes. Participation is limited to 10 children and requires prior reservation.
16, 17, 18 October 2020 from 3.00 to 6.00 p.m.
Museo Archeologico Regionale A. Salinas – Palermo
It is a creative workshop aimed at children aged 6 to 10, scheduled as part of the La Macchina dei Sogni festival. Based on the construction of paper and clay puppets, the workshop aims to retell the timeless myth of the Odyssey through a fresh and contemporary perspective, focusing on the child’s point of view. By creating a story based on mythological narration, each child will be able to bring to life the characters they have built, embarking on a journey into the human soul and today’s world.
The workshop, led by Sara Cuticchio, a psychologist and child psychotherapist, will take place over three afternoon sessions, each lasting three hours. These sessions will include the creation of a story, the making of puppets, and a performance with the marionettes. Participation is limited to 10 children.
To participate, please send a request to: pupi@figlidartecuticchio.com no later than 9 October 2020
For further information and/or clarification please call 091323400
Photos and videos (only in Italian) of performances
To see the photographs and videos recorded live during La Macchina dei Sogni 2020
CLICK HERE
SETUP
Some spaces of the Museum will host an exhibition of “patchwork” tapestries, designed and created by Tania Giordano. Among the metopes of Selinunte, housed in this powerful Pandora’s box that is the Salinas, we will virtually gather fragments of life and tell other stories. We will speak of animals, women, men, and myths, all ensnared by human feelings and passions. Victorious and defeated, castaways and slaves, poor and kings, all alive within the myth.
We will tell their stories with needle and scissors, embellish the tapestries with the metal of the puppets, weave a tapestry of “patchwork” stories, and engage in a dialogue with the past with the awareness that the present is evolving. The journey among the tapestries will be accompanied by texts from Tiziana Lo Porto, a writer and translator who, along with Tania, was a student of the first course of the school for puppeteers and storytellers in 1997.
Birds, a metaphor for the journey, whose flight according to the art of divination is able to foresee the future, will be the common thread of a story inhabited by a gallery of deities, heroic figures, and mythological creatures, all converging in the Palace of Priam’s hundred rooms. The text will be an integral part of the exhibited tapestries, with the words weaving a tapestry of stories and a geography of adventures.
Special attention will be given to the female figures of mythology, from Penelope to Athena and Europa, who are as foundational as their male counterparts and sometimes even more essential to the unfolding of the stories being told.
COMPANIES and SHOWS
After training at the School of the Teatro Stabile di Genova, Elisabetta Pozzi made her stage debut at a very young age alongside Giorgio Albertazzi. She quickly established herself as one of the most talented and versatile personalities in the Italian theater scene, participating in numerous performances with the master.
Throughout her extraordinary career, she has worked with and been directed by some of the most important directors on both the national and international stage. She has won all the most prestigious Italian theater awards, including four UBU awards, the Franco Enriquez award, the Critics Association award, and the Eleonora Duse award.
She has also worked extensively in cinema: she debuted in 1979 in “The Mystery of Oberwald” by Michelangelo Antonioni, and in 1992 she received the Donatello Award for Best Supporting Actress in Carlo Verdone’s film “Maledetto il giorno che t’ho incontrato.” In 2005, she was part of the cast of Ferzan Ozpetek’s “Sacred Heart.”
Parallel to her acting career, she has gained extensive experience in various fields of culture and theater. She has collaborated with numerous universities (Bologna, Genova, Rome, Parma, Venice) and taught at the IUAV University of Venice.
In 2017, she began collaborating with the Centro Teatrale Bresciano, for which she developed a multi-year theatrical and cultural project focused on the promotion of the best contemporary dramaturgy.
Cassandra o dell’inganno
Dramaturgy by Elisabetta Pozzi
With the collaboration of Massimo Fini
Music and lighting design by Daniele D’Angelo
Scenic design by Guido Buganza
Choreography by Alessio Romano
Produced by Centro Teatrale Bresciano
For several years, Elisabetta Pozzi has been working on the major themes and archetypes of Myth: Hofmannsthal’s Elektra, Euripides’ Medea, Hippolytus, and Hecuba, Ritsos’ Helen and Phaedra are just some of the texts she has tackled throughout her career. Among the characters she has most frequently explored in this long dialogue with the roots of Western theater is Cassandra, the focus of numerous studies and performances, of which this Cassandra is the latest installment.
The actress has crafted an original dramaturgy that, starting from the tragedies of Aeschylus and Euripides, takes a fascinating journey around the Trojan prophetess to whom Apollo gave the gift of foresight and the curse of not being believed. She freely gathers inspirations and reinterpretations from great texts and authors of all times, from Seneca to Christa Wolf, from Homer to Yannis Ritsos, and from Wislawa Szymborska to Pier Paolo Pasolini. In a tightly woven and compelling montage, an original portrait emerges of one of the most deeply tragic female figures, marked by her impotence and the tremendous loneliness that comes with bearing the weight of knowledge.
Unfolding her immense and magnetic talent, Elisabetta Pozzi brings to the stage a figure of astonishing modernity, in which strength and fragility coexist, giving body and voice to an unforgettable character.
The Monticelli Family is an artistic family that has been producing and promoting puppet and marionette shows since the first half of the 19th century. In 1979, brothers Andrea and Mauro established Teatro del Drago, which has since operated in the field of contemporary and traditional puppet theater.
Teatro del Drago is recognized by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism and the Emilia-Romagna Region as a company of national importance for its production and promotional activities. Tradition and research coexist in the preservation of the Family’s historical heritage, now housed in the “House of Puppets” Museum, open to the public in the historic center of Ravenna.
Teatro del Drago’s activities are divided into two artistic strands: the traditional, with puppet shows from Emilia-Romagna based on ancient scripts owned by the Family and the preservation of materials from the Monticelli Collection, and the research strand, through contemporary puppet theater shows, which realize a unique artistic vision both in the use of materials and animation techniques.
Fagiolino Asino d’Oro
Magical and Pataphysical Event of a Puppet Transformation
Featuring Fagiolino Asino Burattino
Text by Francesco Niccolini
With Fabio Pignatta, Mauro and Andrea Monticelli
Directed by Renato Bandoli
Decorations by Michela Bellagamba
Scenography by Mauro and Andrea Monticelli with the collaboration of Arianna Maritan
Fagiolino the puppet visits the house of the terrible witch, the sorceress Saturnina Cicativa. The sorceress Saturnina transforms Fagiolino into a donkey. As a donkey, Fagiolino seeks help from the magician Hermes Trismegistus, who mercilessly sends him to hell, where the puppet-donkey steals a miraculous antidote from the devils! He faces Charon and Cerberus, “the big three-headed dog,” and beats them soundly. Finally, the goddess Venus transforms Fagiolino back into a puppet.
The show is a variety art performance, both in its visual setup, which evokes a decadent 19th-century circus, and in its “scenic-choreographic” structure of disorganized traveling artists. The simple and immediate comedy is one of the elements that links the three different genres present in the show: puppet theater, the ancient art of storytelling, and the juggling of street artists.
The show is inspired by Apuleius’s “The Golden Ass,” but the protagonist of the story is Fagiolino, the hero of traditional Emilia Romagna puppetry.
On stage, we also find a seller of magic potions and miraculous ointments called Zambutèn, a real charlatan who invents anything, including the story of Fagiolino Asino d’Oro, to sell his magical products. Alongside Zambutèn is his poor and humble servant Brasula, who helps him sell the potions. Selling and storytelling are the specialties of Zambutèn and Brasula, who offer art, cures, and medicinal remedies!
In 1978, Luì Angelini and Paola Serafini founded the company Assondelli & Stecchettoni, which began its activities using non-traditional hand puppets and gradually transitioned to object theater starting in 1984.
In 1995, the company merged with the Centro Teatro di Figura, and in 1998, taking the name from the historic festival organized by the CTF since 1975, the ensemble became Cooperativa Arrivano dal Mare!
In 2000, Paola and Luì invented the Machines for Unconscious Theater, objects that simultaneously serve as micro-shows, toys, entertainment devices, educational units, and experimental dramaturgical reflection tools.
In the spring of 2003, they launched the project La Voce delle Cose. Alongside shows, courses, and play-conferences dedicated to the relationship between puppet theater and the artistic avant-garde of the 20th century, the short workshop module in various forms was developed.
In 2015, they began a new phase of collaboration with other companies – Teatro Tascabile di Bergamo and the Danish company Cantabile 2 from Vordingborg – providing consultancy on props and set design. Their Machines for Unconscious Theater are on permanent display in Philadelphia and Brazil.
Fiabe africane
Tales, for Voice and Objects, of Traditional Fairy Tales
By and with Paola Serafini
Directed by Luì Angelini
Produced by La Voce delle Cose
A journey into the fairy tales that the peoples of West and Southern Africa have orally passed down for centuries, which researchers have since collected and transcribed. Born in a culture different from ours, these fairy tales retain the pure pleasure of storytelling, the delight in crafting imaginative plots, and a wink-and-nod humor that is both engaging and communicative.
It is a world distinctly opposed to the “rational” one: Little Mouse goes everywhere. She sneaks into the homes of the rich and even visits the poorest. At night, with her shiny little eyes, she spies on the birth of secret things. No treasure room is so secure that she cannot find a way to see what is inside. Long ago, Little Mouse wove story-children from everything she had seen and gave each of them a different colored dress. The stories became her children and lived in her house, serving her because she had no children of her own.
The narration is made more engaging through the use of objects and natural materials: artifacts from Africa, sand, clay, and small musical instruments. Voice, objects, and sounds work together to create a magical and entertaining atmosphere.
La forma delle storie
By and with Luì Angelini
Directed by Paola Serafini
Produced by La Voce delle Cose
A show featuring stories drawn from mythology, fairy tales, classical theater, scholarly literature, legends, and characters that have had many interpretations throughout literary history. From the origins of the world to Adam and Eve, from Cinderella to Little Red Riding Hood and Faust. The Three Little Pigs and Don Quixote aren’t included this time because they couldn’t make it today, but they might appear another time; the company is large, and many famous characters are part of it.
The Shape of Stories is also a walk among pipes, mirrors, screws, matches, boxes, foods, drinks, clothes, and tools that we have already encountered around… but that served other purposes.
The show unfolds like a recital, featuring musings out loud, famous dialogues, carnival barker-style exclamations, moments of intimate contemplation, small sound and visual effects, and the creation of shapes, because building is storytelling and storytelling is creating forms in the mind. Building and storytelling are the stones that pave the path of our lives. This path runs through the world and the brain: on one side are the objects that populate our daily landscape, and on the other are the stories that shape our imagination. Along the path, they meet.
La Compagnia nasce nel dicembre del 2009 suggellando un percorso creativo iniziato nel 2005. Salvino Calatabiano dà vita ai burattini, Vito Bartucca parla con loro. Insieme hanno immaginato un mondo e lo hanno creato: il mondo delle possibilità, nel quale cui tutti possono trovare posto, un mondo in cui i burattini parlano agli uomini e gli uomini parlano ai burattini.
Ogni personaggio ha un nome, una storia e un temperamento, ognuno di loro ha pregi e difetti, qualcuno nasconde anche dei segreti, che ci rivelerà quando saremo pronti ad accoglierli. I burattini sono un esercito che difende la fantasia, sono creature schierate al fianco della tenerezza.
Scilla e Cariddi
Spettacolo per burattini e narratore
drammaturgia Salvino Calatabiano
burattini Vito Bartucca
narratore Vito Bartucca
burattinaio Salvino Calatabiano
produzione Teatro degli Spiriti Piccolo Teatro Patafisico
Scilla è una ninfa dolce e soave che vive sulle spiagge della città di Messina. Glauco, creatura marina mezzo uomo e mezzo pesce, si innamora perdutamente di lei. Scilla, però, è impaurita dall’aspetto mostruoso di Glauco. Inizia così una straordinaria avventura fatta di inseguimenti, di mari, di amori e di mostri marini che porterà Scilla a incontrare Cariddi.
Continua il viaggio “burattino” del Teatro degli Spiriti nelle storie della mitologia classica. Quella di Scilla e Cariddi, le due guardiane del mare di Sicilia, ci riguarda da vicino.
The Company was founded in 1971 under the leadership of Mimmo Cuticchio. The recovery of traditional techniques of puppetry and storytelling (cunto), as well as research and experimentation, are the three main languages of its theatrical communication. The artistic survival of the Company, which has managed to renew itself by facing the crisis of the Opra theater, is due to its pursuit of a unique expressive space that maximizes the techniques of puppeteers and storytellers—languages that are far from exhausted or outdated—in order to seek a contemporary theater of truth and poetry.
Since 1977, the Associazione Figli d’Arte Cuticchio has incorporated the eponymous Company and, in addition to its production activities, has also promoted puppet theater and the Opera dei Pupi. Since 1984, it has organized the theatrical festival La Macchina dei Sogni, and since 1997, it has run a school for puppeteers and storytellers with the aim of ensuring a future for puppet theater and cunto.
Since 2007, the traditional craft of Mimmo Cuticchio (which encompasses the complete heritage of a puppeteer) and the innovative craft he has developed through his shows have been open to the public as a permanent exhibition. This exhibition unfolds in the places where he works, constructs puppets, and performs their stories. The collection includes the marionettes Cuticchio created for his new scripts, those of puppeteers active from the second half of the 19th century to the present, as well as theatrical machinery, barrel pianos, posters, backdrops, and musical and sound instruments. Next to the theater and workshop is an archive, constantly enriched with documents, scripts, books, photos, and videos, which in 2013 the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, on a proposal formulated by the Superintendence of Archives for Sicily, declared of historical interest.
Viaggio avventuroso tra storie, miti e leggende
Itinerant Show
Scenic Design and Direction: Mimmo Cuticchio
Narrator: Mimmo Cuticchio
The Custodian: Simona Malato
The Guardian: Alfonso Veneroso
Stage Presences
The Man of the Reeds: Bruno Leone
Echo: Santa Buttaci
Reed Flute: Riccardo Termini
Costumes and Scenic Design: Tania Giordano
Stage Assistant: Heidi Mancino
Scenic Technician: Emanuele Salamanca
Production: Figli d’Arte Cuticchio
The doors, loggias, gardens, and colonnade of the Salinas Archaeological Museum will become the scenic spaces for the festival’s “Adventurous Journey through Stories, Myths, and Legends,” an itinerant show conceived and directed by Mimmo Cuticchio. The threads of the narrative will intertwine with the fabric of myths. The flight of the birds’ golden feathers will accompany the traveler through the strands of the epic tale of the Trojan War, woven on a loom set against the stone of Palermo. Strength, weakness, tears, love, pain, death, duels, friendship, power, swords, helmets, spears, charioteers, and the delicate veil…
From the deeds of heroes to the boundless horizon of characters who ask to be told, relived, and reinterpreted in new ways. From the beautiful and violated Europa to humble and obedient gods like Aeneas, from cunning and clever figures like Ulysses, king of castaways, to the skilled archer Paris, eager for golden apples, from the chilling gaze of Medusa, once a sweet and defenseless maiden, to the relentless wisdom of Athena, from the desperate, loving, and determined Demeter to the seductive and fiery Jupiter, from mothers and sisters who lose their children like Andromache to loyal warriors like Hector. All will be shaped and brought to life in their love for adventure, valor, and virtues.
L’ira di Achille
Dall’Iliade di Omero
adattamento scenico e regia Mimmo Cuticchio
con Mimmo e Giacomo Cuticchio e Tania Giordano, Marika Pugliatti, Emanuele Salamanca
musiche Giacomo Cuticchio
flauto traverso Alessandro Lo Giudice
violoncello Paolo Pellegrino
sassofono baritono Nicola Mogavero
percussioni Giulia Lo Giudice
arpa Roberta Casella
scene e costumi Tania Giordano
luci Marcello D’Agostino
Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy, abducts Helen, wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. The Greeks gather and decide to declare war on the Trojans. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and brother of Menelaus, is elected as the commander-in-chief. Among the warriors are the valiant Odysseus, Ajax the Lesser, Ajax the Greater, Antilochus, Diomedes, Menelaus, Nestor, Patroclus, Achilles, and the seer Calchas.
The Greek ships land along the shores of Troy. King Priam gathers his many sons and allies and entrusts the defense of the city to his eldest son, Hector. The siege of Troy lasts nine years. Despite their numbers, the Greeks are unable to get close to the high walls of the city. In the tenth year, Chryses, a priest of Apollo, approaches Agamemnon to ransom his daughter Chryseis, who had been awarded to the king of Mycenae during the division of spoils.
However, Agamemnon refuses and brutally dismisses him. The priest Chryses then prays to the god Apollo to punish the arrogance of the Greeks. Consequently, Apollo sends the plague arrows upon the Achaean camp: for nine days, cattle and men die. On the tenth day, Achilles calls for a council to be convened.
L’ira di Achille (The Wrath of Achilles) is a puppet show designed not for the small proscenium but for the grand stage. The action unfolds on three scenic levels: the men/puppets, the priests/puppeteers, and the gods/actors.
Giacomo Cuticchio composed the musical suite specifically for the show, which was conceived, staged, and directed by his father Mimmo. The epic merges with the contemporary in a production that features new puppets created to represent the Greeks and Trojans, adhering to the traditional canons that the artistic family has passed down through generations. Similarly, ancient and modern instruments are harmonized in the soundtrack, which accompanies the depicted events in a dialectical progression, following the improvisational rhythms typical of puppet theater.
Medusa
Tragedia in Musica
Projection on the big screen of the performance staged in 2019 at Palazzo D’Aumale during the 36th edition of the La Macchina dei Sogni festival.
Director: Mimmo Cuticchio
Music: Giacomo Cuticchio
Libretto: Luca Ferracane
Puppeteers: Mimmo and Giacomo Cuticchio
Stage Assistants: Tania Giordano and Giuseppe Airò
Costumes: Tania Giordano
Characters and Performers
Medusa (soprano): Federica Faldetta
High Priestess, Amphitrite, Athena (soprano): Corinna Cascino
Poseidon (baritone): Francesco Vultaggio
Priestesses – Nereids (women’s choir): Maria Elisabetta Trupiano, Rosalba Aurora Ducato, Carmela Caponetto, Federica Giglio, Sonia Sala, Giorgia Gabriele, Chiara Geraci, Aurora Bruno
Tritons (men’s choir): Davide Vitale, Chang Hui Han, Emanuele Tidei, Andrea Albeggiani, Fabrizio Sebastien Jacquin, Alessandro Patti, Fabrizio Musumeci
Orchestra Conductor: Salvatore Barberi
Flute: Alessandro Lo Giudice
Soprano Saxophone: Nicola Mogavero
Bassoon: Filippo Barracato
Bass Clarinet: Francesco Maranto
1st Trumpet in C: Sergio Caltagirone
2nd Trumpet in C: Calogero Lupo
Trombone: Fabio Piro
Tuba: Davide Leone
Percussion (bass drum, tam-tam, triangle, cymbals, snare drum): Giulia Lo Giudice
Piano: Giusy Cascio
Harpsichord: Licia Tani
First Violins: Marco Badami, Francesco Lamanna, Alessia La Rocca, Virginia Gurrera, Gioel Caronna, Giuseppe Di Chiara
Second Violins: Francesco Nardella, Davide Rizzuto, Michele Savarino, Filippo Mercanti, Salvatore Passantino
Violas: Massimo Cantone, Antonio Buono, Adelaide Filippone, Valerio Vassalo
Cellos: Paolo Pellegrino, Giuseppe D’Amato, Arianna Ciancimino
Double Basses: Walter Roccaro, Dario Ammirata
The narrated story is one of the most terrifying and controversial myths: that of Medusa, known as the third Gorgon, infamous for her snake hair, petrifying gaze, and the cunning, violent victory Perseus achieved over her. Her story, like many myths, is fueled by various and sometimes contradictory sources. Ovid describes her as a beautiful mortal maiden with flowing hair, desired by the god Poseidon, who possesses her in Athena’s temple. The goddess, to avenge the sacrilege, transforms her beautiful soft black hair into snakes. More recently, Robert Graves describes her as a maiden willing to lie with Poseidon.
Nihil sub sole novum, the oppression of women by men, indeed, has very ancient origins. The myth, an inexhaustible source of truth, once again tells contemporary stories, unfortunately seen daily in the news, yet distant from us as they are set in an undefined space-time.
The Figli d’Arte Cuticchio have represented Medusa by combining the expressive power of the puppets with the evocative power of Giacomo Cuticchio’s music. The action does not take place behind the theater’s wings; the puppeteer moves his creatures in full view and does not speak a word: the text is only sung; the music and the puppets’ actions run parallel but without being didactic.
Mythos, the Endless Tale
Classical mythology is a network that intertwines multiple stories that (tirelessly) reference one another. Over time, this network has been cast countless times into the sea of culture, both ancient and modern. As it traverses this sea, dragging along its bottom, the net of myth has gathered names, facts, rules, attitudes, and ways of seeing the world, retaining them within the wonderful mesh of its narratives.
In the collaboration that has bound me for several years to the artistic and blood family of Mimmo Cuticchio, from Selinunte to the hill of Ibañeta in Roncesvalles, this 37th edition of La Macchina dei Sogni represents a fundamental milestone, indeed, an important point of arrival. What we both understand by culture from different perspectives – living the identity roots as a constant tension between the memory of tradition and contemporaneity, mastering the craft solidly to innovate it – now finds in this scenic machine specifically designed for the Salinas the ideal ground for experimentation.
Archaeology is, in fact, a thoroughly anthropological discipline par excellence. Reconstructing through live narration the weave of events suggested by the “images” collected in the museum, from the Selinuntine metopes to the kaleidoscope of iconographies documented by the minor arts, themselves sémata/signs of a history that is difficult to decipher and fully understand, means restoring to the works of art and objects, mute witnesses of the everyday life of peoples who lived in the ancient Mediterranean long ago, that “background noise” which Jean-Pierre Vernant associated with Plato’s phèmè, the “Noise” of conversation and encounter among the citizens of the polis, and thus the essence of the oral character of those cultures. Mythos, after all, is nothing but “word,” “story,” an anonymous and manifold vehicle of tales that provided an interpretation and understanding of the surrounding world, from which Greek culture and our Western culture were born. Stories continuously repeated and handed down through the works of classical authors (poets, tragedians, historians: even ancient historiography is full of mythical tales), of which only – only! – the written texts remain: “Our myths do not reach us alive through words continuously taken up and modified by the Noise.” Physically giving voice back to the myth’s story means rediscovering the simulacrum of the ancient man’s voice, feeling its sound and breath upon us.
This is an essential aspect of the experience we will live: for the first time in an archaeological museum, a theatrical performance will unfold before the eyes of the public, involving the narrator, the artwork, and the visitor—not merely a tourist but a traveler through time and space.
Theater, after all, is not just an art form but gives social shape to the values, oppositions, and contrasts that animate and define a civic community. It is important to remember, especially here in a museum that speaks of archaeology and ancient history, that in classical Greece, “tragedy is born when myth is viewed through the eyes of the citizen,” when the polis and the agora become the places of discussion and the gradual emancipation from myth to philosophy, which is thus “the daughter of the city” and history. Ancient theatrical performances used masks, which underscored a complex conception of the individuality of characters, far removed from our modern sensibilities. This form of collective ritual in ancient drama is one of the threads connected to puppet theater, with Cuticchio as one of its most recognized representatives today. This seemingly casual circularity of connections, along with the common exploration of adjacent territories in the vast and engaging field of cultural history, has given rise to this unique edition of La Macchina dei Sogni.
An edition we strongly desired in this dramatic and disorienting year, marked by the Covid-19 emergency, which confronted us with fears and loneliness that shattered the erroneous presumption of omnipotence sustaining our contemporary era. This determination, immediately shared and supported by Councilor Alberto Samonà—whom we publicly thank here—embraced the atypical idea of making not the usual collateral spaces dedicated to events and cultural manifestations but the traditional rooms of a museum, with all the exhibited works becoming protagonists alongside the actors. This setting serves as the narrative center and theatrical stage for the action, unfolding through Cuticchio’s stories and his unique interpretation of the role and expressive potential of the “opera dei pupi,” now called upon to bring Homeric heroes to life. A continuous blend of themes, cultural forms, and genres aims to propose an original and multifaceted interpretation of “Sicilian identity.”
But now it begins, and “it is the time of the gods that emerges on the scene and appears in the time of men“. We just need to know how to see and listen.
* All quotations are taken from: J.-P. Vernant, Mito e pensiero presso i Greci, Torino 1978; J.-P.Vernant-P. Vidal-Naquet, Mito e tragedia nell’antica Grecia, Torino 1976;J.-P-Vernant, Le origini del pensiero greco, Milano 2007
Caterina Greco
Director of the Museo Archeologico Regionale Antonino Salinas
Quasi un racconto (Almost a tale)
by Mimmo Cuticchio
In search of lost time
At the end of last February, on the Presena glacier, in the enormous igloo created for the Ice Music Festival, I recounted the death of the paladin Orlando using some ice puppets. At the end of the performance, I announced to the audience that Orlando’s sword, horn, and horse, specially made for that unique theater in the world, would be frozen on that mountain, at 2600 meters above sea level, in the hope that one day in the next millennium they would be discovered, just as happened with Ötzi, the Similaun man.
I could never have imagined that, just a few hours after that magnificent experience in that paradisiacal place, I would be catapulted into the hell and anguish that, like an avalanche, was descending upon Italy and the entire world. Upon arriving in Trento to continue the tour, I was informed by Elisa, my wife, that one by one, the scheduled performances were being canceled: Turin, Bergamo, Bologna, Rome, Naples. I barely managed to catch a train that would take me to Naples, where I could board a ferry and return home.
On the evening of March 9th, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced to Italians that, except for essential services, the country was shutting down, coming to a halt. The next day, the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic, the first of such vast proportions since the Spanish Flu.
During this forced isolation, which kept us away from social life, work, and loved ones, Elisa and I decided to open wide the window that overlooks the floor below from our apartment. There, surrounded by hundreds of aligned puppets, lies my studio with its shelves holding the paper archive, videos, and photographs of decades of activity, an archive constantly being updated and digitized. Opening that window held a symbolic meaning for us during those sad days of confinement.
Going through the folders with carefully organized materials, revisiting the shows we produced, the interviews, the filmed documents of reviews and festivals, organizing the chronology of articles, placing numerous publications, cataloging meetings, conferences, and exhibitions… meant unrolling a continuous life story of over 50 years of theatrical activity. Emotions resurfaced, affections reappeared, and the countless journeys and dangerous unforeseen events that only youth, miraculously, manages to overcome came back to mind. This meticulous work revealed epochal transformations, showing us who we were and what we have built, for better or for worse.
Deserted streets and a surreal silence accompanied our days, marked only by news broadcasts and the opinions of doctors, researchers, and scientists from around the world who had become the “new gods,” ready to govern over the life and death of human beings. On TV, we saw only squares filled with emptiness and silence, while our patron saint Rosalia garnered prayers from politicians and devotees to intercede with the Creator to eradicate the epidemic, as she had done with the plague of the 1600s. Even the Holy Father, “contravening” the rules imposed by the national government, left St. Peter’s to seek help from St. Marcellinus, who had performed miracles in the past.
My puppets began to talk among themselves
Meanwhile, our home had become a labyrinth of papers placed everywhere. Lacking adequate containers, we even used shoeboxes. One night, accustomed by now to the absolute silence, a strange murmur woke me up. I tried to understand where it was coming from and realized it was coming from the staircase. With a flashlight, I reached the office downstairs and, pointing it upwards, illuminated the collection of the oldest puppets hanging on the iron profiles embedded in the walls. As always, they had their eyes open. The murmur, coming from the ground floor, did not cease. I went down the stairs, opened the small door connecting the staircase and the workshop, and distinctly heard the voice of Orlando speaking with Archbishop Turpin and Emperor Charlemagne. He said that the paladins had always fought against giant thieves and fierce Saracens to defend the oppressed and the weakest, and now the time had come to fight against this terrible evil afflicting all of humanity. The cry of “Montjoie” united the paladins present. Astolfo, as always, declared himself the first ready to depart, followed by Rinaldo, Salardo, Riccardo, Ricciardetto, Bradamante, Oliver, Uggero, Brandimarte… Even the comedy puppets chimed in, recounting the discomfort and difficulties they had heard from the voices of the Palermitans, many of whom had lost their jobs due to the lockdown, and the children, confined to their homes, were suffering from the sudden change in their routines. In short, my puppets were in an uproar. I tried to reassure them somehow, telling them that there had been other difficult times in the past and that we would overcome this one as well, then I left them, but not before promising that I would do something, especially for the little ones.
Indeed, for a few days, some loyal spectators had been urging me to present something over the Internet, the only connection to the outside world during that period. So I decided to pause the archival work and focus on the children. For many years, the story of the paladin Orlando, who, as a child, performs the most incredible feats despite the painful separation from his father Milone and the comforts of the court, has been a part of our repertoire for children. Taking advantage of the character’s charm and the upcoming Easter holiday, I asked Elisa to record with her smartphone the puppet Orlando as a child, wishing all his peers and their families a happy Easter, inviting them to write or send drawings to maintain contact with the puppet theater at least through the Internet. The experience was repeated a few weeks later, with great success among “navigators.” This time, however, little Orlando introduced a character I called Igienico, because I had made him from recycled materials: caps, buttons, ribbons, and rolls of toilet paper.
Meanwhile, days, weeks, and months passed, and as per the plan, our Festival was supposed to take place at the end of July. Every day we hoped that the infection rate would decrease and that the dozens of deaths sadly announced by the news would become only painful memories. The Festival was to be held within the ruins and moat of Castello a Mare in Palermo, a fortification dating back to the 9th century that played a crucial role, especially during the Risorgimento, and which the Superintendency of Cultural Heritage had restored along with the entire perimeter of the fortress. Our intention was to keep both the dates and the content, but at a certain point, we realized it wasn’t feasible. Although the project had been meticulously planned, by mid-May, we realized that even if normalcy returned, there wouldn’t be enough time to work on the setups. Those who know us are aware that La Macchina dei Sogni chooses a theme and a space each year, creating a “total script” around it—a kind of dramaturgy of places where the spaces are decorated in harmony with the chosen theme, becoming the setting within which all elements of the project move.
How we came to the A. Salinas Museum
For a while, we believed that the 2020 edition would be canceled. However, after speaking with Caterina Greco, the passionate director of the Archaeological Museum A. Salinas, which oversees other sites including Castello a Mare, we realized that the Festival project would need to be modified but that it was still possible to hold the event.
Our first meeting with the director and the initial opportunities for collaboration date back many years. We fondly remember the successful 2013 Festival edition set around the Temple of Hera in Selinunte, when Caterina Greco was Superintendent of the Archaeological Park. We also recall her contribution to the 2018 edition when, as director of the Regional Catalog Center, she participated alongside other colleagues and the late Sebastiano Tusa, then Regional Councilor for Cultural Heritage, in a unique and unforgettable experience.
After conducting several site inspections and taking note of the measures adopted by the central and local governments, we resumed working on the current edition with renewed enthusiasm to “make up for lost time.” We were certainly encouraged by the director and also supported by the Region through Alberto Samonà, the current Regional Councilor for Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity, who immediately embraced the project.
The Regional Archaeological Museum is perhaps the most important public museum institution on the Island. Every room, every corner, every statue, and every artifact illustrates the marvelous history of Sicilian civilization from prehistory to the contemporary age. The museum is a treasure chest of invaluable artistic and cultural value, a treasure that led me to think of it as the “palace of the hundred rooms of Priam,” which is, not by chance, the subtitle of the festival. This institution has always been dear to me. In the 1980s, with my friend and architect Manlio Condello, it was a mandatory stop on the guided tours we organized for Palermitans and especially for the residents of the Olivella neighborhood, which at that time was still populated by the simple folk of the alleys whom we involved in our cultural initiatives. I have always believed that only by knowing one’s heritage can it be defended from neglect and barbarism. The people of the alleys have testified to this many times. During our inspections to determine how to set the Festival there, everywhere I looked, I saw living stones, in motion. Every artifact, every sculpture reminded me of a story, and I immediately envisioned a path marked by migratory birds, which have an extraordinary ability to orient themselves, following safe routes across continents and oceans. Some even possess a “collective memory” and learn the travel route from their parents or the more experienced members of the flock, without forgetting that birds are symbols of ultimate freedom. Once again, my thoughts turn to roots and wings, the past and the future, tradition and experimentation.
The myths we will explore thus become a mine of stories often tied to the behaviors of our society. We will speak of gods but also of men. We will learn about the virtues and flaws of each, within a poetic journey in which the actors will play multiple roles. Finally, I will be there as well. Will I perhaps be a bard? Will I be Homer? Let’s not get carried away. There are already seven Greek cities claiming his birthplace… safe travels.
Obiettivi, sogni, desideri e ricordi (Goals, dreams, wishes and memories)
by Elisa Puleo
The objective we have always set when designing the various editions of La Macchina dei Sogni has been to remain true to the principles that inspired us from the beginning: to define a place where the centrality of the relationship with the audience is established, a place of participatory imagination, outside the constraints of current trends.
The 37th edition of the Festival, conceived during the lockdown, when projects, dreams, desires, memories, and visions were stirring within each of us, will not be able to have the large participation of past editions, where the Festival venues were filled with entire families and the evening shows were crowded with young people. In this edition, entries will be strictly regulated, and spectators will be necessarily distanced to ensure everyone’s health and safety.
A show, a concert, a exhibition are experiences of sharing; they are born to be together. However, despite the limitations imposed by the health emergency, theater cannot stop because the need to share beauty, art, and stories is a primary necessity that, especially at this moment, helps us imagine a better and more serene future.
We feel a strong responsibility to keep La Macchina dei Sogni and the Puppet Theater with its endless stories alive. This is why we will be there despite everything, in the spaces of the Regional Archaeological Museum A. Salinas and also online. The web will allow us this year to reach a much wider, ideally infinite, audience to share once again the imaginative dimension of theater, its stories, and its emotions.
La Memoria dei Sogni
The Memory of Dreams
Take a virtual journey (only in Italian) through the 37 editions of La Macchina dei Sogni (1984-2019), the Opera dei Pupi Theater, and the Theater laboratory of the Associazione Figli d’Arte Cuticchio.