Rita is a tragicomedy that explores the difficulty of “letting go” of loved ones, raises the question of what it means to live with dignity, and examines the legitimacy we have in deciding the death of others. Toni and Julia are siblings. Toni is someone who takes shortcuts, strong and determined, while Julia is unable to make decisions and wavers on any subject. However, when Toni’s veterinarian advises him to euthanize his dog Rita, his confidence falters. Julia, on the other hand, is very firm on the matter. In this role reversal, Toni then poses the same question about their mother, and the tension explodes. Rita is a comedy about family and the inability to accept death.
“Talking about death is a subject that doesn’t always find public space due to its complexity. Marta Buchaca addresses this topic in Rita, with a lighter and more entertaining perspective, developing a story where values such as family and empathy prevail, mixed with a certain vein of madness. Madness in the creation of diverse characters not without exaggerations, in an atmosphere initially very friendly and light, then with peaks of energy that make the comedy very ‘agitated.’ The various scenes are flooded with emotion and intimacy; when memory and nostalgia are evoked, the dramatic weight increases. Even if the tone is ‘calm,’ my task will be to seek something that goes beyond, so that the poetic character that pervades the entire work can narrate an existential journey wrapped not only in tenderness but also in bitterness.”
– Alberto Giusta
text by Marta Buchaca
direction Alberto Giusta
with Denis Fontanari
and Monica Garavello
production AriaTeatro
duration 60′
the matinée on May 8th is a special project dedicated to Ravenna high schools
On the occasion of the matinée there will be a desk for book lending curated by Biblioteca di Storia Contemporanea Alfredo Oriani
Marta Buchaca playwright, director and screenwriter, is one of the most relevant authors in the contemporary Spanish theater scene. Her plays are regularly performed in Barcelona and Madrid. Playoff, after debuting in 2018 at Madrid’s Teatro Conde Duque with La Joven Compañía and a long tour of Spain, was restaged in 2024. Només una vegada, presented at the 2018 Festival Grec, was staged at the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya. It has received numerous awards, including the Max Prize for Best Playwright in Catalan and the Ciutat d’Alcoi Prize. Her plays have also been performed abroad, with Summit debuting in 2016 at La Mama Theatre in New York. Her texts are published in Catalan and Castilian, with recent anthologies: Marta Buchaca, Teatre reunit (2005-2018) (Arola Editors, TNC) and Dramedias (Ed. Punto de vista). As a screenwriter, she wrote the films Fenómenas (Netflix, 2022) and El joc de les claus (Atresmedia/Warner Bros, 2022). For more than a decade she worked on TV3’s series El Cor de la Ciutat and La Riera.
The AriaTeatro company was born in 2008 from the encounter of two actors and one director trained at the Teatro Stabile School in Genoa and two actors trained at the Venice Theatre School in Avogaria, a group of people animated by the need to investigate evocative theatrical languages and popular at the same time. Since September 2013 he manages the Municipal Theater of Pergine Valsugana, a 432-seat structure, in the belief that he can manage a large structure by cultivating an equal relationship with the public, not from producer to consumer, but from co responsible to co-responsible. Since January 2016 it has also managed the Teatro di Meano, a 251-seat reality located near by Trento. This activity gives us the opportunity to form a curious and active audience, starting from early age groups. The company does not neglect the production and distribution business either in prose and in the field of children’s theater.
www.ariateatro.it