A disturbing and controversial manifesto on love dazzles the audience with the venom of a 22-year-old from the 21st century, a representative of an underground and rapidly growing community. In the trap of a hypertextual tragedy, one of the most hidden contemporary vulnerabilities is evoked. The incel constructs a narrative, a gamification, of himself and the world around him as a constant punishment. While a massacre unfolds in the background, the deformations of love become visible, appearing like lines of programming code.

The image

A hypertextual device stages Elliot Rodger’s manifesto through a narrative video game, broadcast live on Twitch. The events of the manifesto “My Twisted World” written by Elliot Rodger are adapted into a video game developed entirely for the performance. On stage, in addition to evoking the figure of Elliot Rodger, a second performer plays the video game and interacts with the audience in the theater and live streaming. Spectators surround the scene arranged like in a courtroom or an anatomical theater. The participatory device allows various narrative paths to be undertaken, shifting the dramaturgical trajectory with every time the performance is repeated.

The research

In May 2014, in California, Elliot Rodger, a 22-year-old man, killed six people and injured fourteen others before committing suicide. Prior to the massacre, he uploaded a video online explaining his reasons and sent a handful of people his manifesto-autobiography. The text, which he titled “My Twisted World”, recounts all the significant events of his life from early childhood to the day he planned the massacre. The primary reason for Elliot Rodger’s actions was tied to the fact that, at 22, he had not experienced a sexual or romantic relationship with a girl. Elliot Rodger is considered an incel, and the most extreme part of the community regards him as a martyr. Incel refers to an online subculture consisting of individuals who self-identify as “involuntary celibates”, attributing their lack of romantic and/or sexual relationships to their perceived unattractiveness, which they claim to be objective and beyond their control.


By UCCI UCCI (Salvatore Crucitti and Gloria Zeppilli)

from The Manifesto-Biography of Elliot Rodger
with Gabriele Graham and Gasco Giovanni Conti
costumes Valeria Forconi
scenography Alessandra Solimene
light design Gianni Staropoli
video design Igor Renzetti
game design Antonio Chiementi
sound design Filippo Lilli

winner of Mittelyoung 2024

production Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica Silvio d’Amico
with the support of Mittelfest 2024


duration 60′


The artistic research of the duo UCCI UCCI, composed of Salvatore Crucitti and Gloria Zeppilli, is based on an anthropological-ethnographic approach. Encounters with communities, field studies, and sociological analyses become the raw material of their works, addressing cultural and social issues through an interdisciplinary and relational artistic practice, with the intention of evoking territories and cultures that are hidden or on the verge of extinction. In 2024, the duo became finalists at the Biennale College Teatro 2024 (La Biennale di Venezia) with the performance “HÒS.” They won Mittelyoung 2024 (Mittelfest) with Twisted World, recognized for its focus on “current events, risk, innovation, and complexity of construction.” They produced the film Crossing the Dragon with the support of the European platform Magic Carpets EU and Latitudo Art Projects. They also founded the scientific journal IMPURE: Journal of Art and Anthropology, which brings together international artists, researchers, and anthropologists. Additionally, they are researchers at the Societas Raffaello Sanzio Historical Archive. In 2023, the duo presented the solo exhibitions “Artificial Hells” at Quartier Am Hafen and “Sedimenti” at the Italian Cultural Institute in Cologne, Germany. They conducted research between Art and Anthropology at the International Performance Art Archive Black Kit in Cologne. They created the work “Canto III” with the support of the LAB EUROPE artist residency at the Hase 29 Gallery in Osnabrück, Germany. In 2022, the duo won the ArtèEuropa award, granted by the European Parliament, the Ragnarock association, and the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. In the same year, they received a special mention at the “Premio Scenario Infanzia.” In 2021, the duo participated in and won the award for Best Performance at the 64th Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, as part of the European Young Theatre.