from the book by Francesca Mannocchi and Gianluca Costantini (Mondadori)
As the artist-activist Gianluca Costantini has done by proposing to the war journalist Francesca Mannocchi to transform her reportages into a work of graphic journalism, so ErosAntEros turns the powerful images and words of Costantini-Mannocchi into a multidisciplinary performance which creates the chance to meet the eclectic musician Bruno Dorella.
There are three fundamental elements: voice, music and animated drawings. The theme is the Libya of today, but a different Libya from the one shown on the news and on social media:
It is the Libya of the Libyans, the Libya of the lines outside the banks to get a currency that no longer has any value. The Libya of the young people who fought the Gaddafi regime and now regret it because at least, “when he was there”, they felt safe; and there was no lack of money, electricity, gasoline. The Libya of the mothers standing at the window waiting for children who will not return. The Libya of the elders who have lived through decades of dictatorship and are always looking over their shoulders. The Libya of ordinary people who suffer daily military blackmail, abuses, kidnappings, and live in constant fear.
For a decade, the Libyan issue has been dividing public opinion: on one side those in favour of armed intervention in 2011, on the other those against; on one side those who think that the flow of migrants to Italian coasts should be stopped by any means – including “legal” and illegal detention centres -, on the other those who believe that migrants imprisoned in Libya have the right to escape and to be saved. Black or white; full or empty; all or nothing. But as always, reality is more complex: we need to know it. This show, like the book from which it is inspired, wants to be one more step towards doing so.
concept and space Davide Sacco and Agata Tomšič / ErosAntEros
text Francesca Mannocchi
drawings Gianluca Costantini
with Younes El Bouzari and Agata Tomšič
music and live performance Bruno Dorella
dramaturgy Agata Tomšič
direction Davide Sacco
video animations Majid Bita and Michele Febbraio
Tewa’s voice Hanen Shushan
production ErosAntEros – POLIS Teatro Festival
in collaboration with ARCI
with the support of Elsinor Centro di Produzione Teatrale / Teatro Cantiere Florida and R.A.M.I. Residenza Artistica Multidisciplinare ILINXARIUM within the project CURA 2021and Centro di Residenza della Toscana (Armunia – CapoTrave/Kilowatt), Comune di Castiglion Fiorentino (AR)
with the support of Ministero della Cultura, Regione Emilia-Romagna and Comune di Ravenna
winning project of the call CURA 2021
duration 80′
ErosAntEros was born from the union of Davide Sacco, stage director, and Agata Tomšič, actress and dramaturg, in January 2010. Their artistic research brings forward an engaged theater that does not give up the aesthetic value of form, in a strong relation whit the history, the present and the places in which is created, with the aim to connect theater to life and make the imagination a weapon to transform reality.
Over the years they have been produced and supported by important theatrical institutions, such as ERT-Emilia Romagna Teatro / Teatro Nazionale, TNL-Théâtre National du Luxembourg, Ravenna Festival, Campania Teatro Festival, Teatro della Toscana, TPE-Teatro Piemonte Europa, Teatro della Tosse.
They have been involved in important international projects at: the Festival d’Avignon (in 2022 with European Theatre Convention; in 2018 with ProHelvetia and MiBACT); the candidacy of Piran2025 as European Capital of Culture (artistic consultants 2019-2020); the F.I.N.D. plus festival of the Schaubühne in Berlin (in 2015, with ERT – Emilia Romagna Teatro and Prospero Project); the Grotowski Institute of Wroclaw and the Odin Teatret / Nordisk Teaterlaboratorium of Holstebro (between 2014 and 2017).
Since 2018 they are directing POLIS Teatro Festival in Ravenna, programming artists of international importance and implementing participatory projects that involve citizens.
https://erosanteros.org/