Avanguardia Circus

Snapshots directed by Ferdinando Ceriani

Once again, we narrowly dodge torrential rains that make Rome look like a tropical city! We make room for the madness of the avant-garde, imagining a circus that features, instead of the usual ferocious beasts, some of these artists who, when you think about it, are every bit as fierce as lions and jaguars! The performers enjoy bringing whimsical, clownish characters to life through makeup, costumes, and mimicry. We dedicate these three evenings to Maria Guglielmino, a student from the course who took part in “Monna Lisa” and who, sadly, passed away after a long illness. I remember her before I begin, during my address to the audience. A big, long, heartfelt round of applause from the kids, hidden behind the hedges. Goodbye, Maria.

Adaptation and direction: Ferdinando Ceriani

Staging and choreography collaboration: Carla Ferraro

Assistant director: Alice Guidi

Music: Fiorenzo Carpi, Nino Rota

May 24-25-26, 2010, 9:00 PM

LUISS Guido Carli, University Gardens, Viale Pola, 12 - Rome

How can Jarry and Vian coexist? Artaud and the Futurists? Campanile and Tardieu? Tzara and Marinetti? Maggio, Aub, and Valentine? What arena, what stage space can contain—without exploding (or imploding)—their wild vitality, their provocative violence, their visceral need to subvert reason and morality? Perhaps the most suitable stage is that of the circus, precisely because it is “circular,” which is also a prelude to madness, where the thin line separating the possible from the impossible becomes so narrow that it disappears between one act and the next. But our circus is a circus of a different kind. Instead of ferocious beasts, it features Tardieu and his wild characters. It favors the linguistic acrobatics of Boris Vian over trapeze artists, and the majesty of elephants is replaced by the heaviness of Ubu Rex and his followers. It's a grand game of Russian nesting dolls, where each act heralds the next and the next, all to the rhythm of the beautiful music by Fiorenzo Carpi and Nino Rota. There are so many clown characters, a parade of grotesque, comical, and aggressive figures guided onto the ring by the ringmaster's magic touch. He tries, to the very end of his strength, to impose logic on something that defies logic! A light-hearted divertissement that concludes with a cinematic quote from one of Federico Fellini's most beautiful films. Which one? It's up to you to find out… And in the meantime, let the show begin!

Students | Leading actors

• Francesca Anselmi
• Marianna Antenucci
• Giacomo Bucciarelli
• Marta Calabrò
• Bruno Catania
• Edoardo Cavalcabò
• Filippo Cerboni
• Francesca Elena Cifone
• Simone Corbisiero
• Giovanni Cordì
• Agnese Curti
• Francesca De Rosa
• Francesca Di Giorgio
• Filippo Di Iorio
• Giuseppe Di Paola
• Ilaria Diotallevi
• Carmen Falvo
• Gianluca Fasano
• Claudia Foglia
• Alice Formica
• Andrea Gagliano
• Luisa Giurato
• Chiara Granieri
• Giuseppe Labate
• Leonello Marraccini
• Teresa Mattioli
• Pietro Migliori
• Enza Milano
• Manuela Monaco
• Claudia Monti
• Antonella Mulas
• Erika Munno
• Maria Murrone
• Simone Oddo
• Vito Pati
• Lodovica Pirisi
• Antonio Rinaldi
• Giorgio Sartarelli
• Chiara Sfregola
• Luca Sigot
• Pietro Vannucci