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Alter_Azione

 
Roger Kay Review by Roger Kay 4 Published: 29 Oct 2024 Zo Show Dates: 24 Oct 2024-27 Oct 2024

Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet that the function of art is to hold up a mirror to nature.

Impressive dance and physical theatre, exquisitely directed and executed

Alter_Azione is a piece of performance art created and directed by Gaia Gemelli, staged in the lovely Zo theatre, as part of the Catania Fringe. While perhaps predominantly a piece of dance, the production also comprises components of physical theatre and ballet; it is an impressive fusion by danzarte.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses is one of the drivers of this show. The theme centres around evolution and the organic nature of life on Earth - be it plants, animals, insects or humans. Humans, of course, have evolved exponentially, developing intricate societal values, cultures and structures and this motif is explored at length.

The action begins with one of the performers attached to the other three by rope. The three are entwined and there is already ambiguity: is one dragging the others, or are they restraining her? This is immediately leaning in to a part of the synopsis for Alter_Azione: “Creare resistendo o resistere creando?”, translated as “to create by resisting or to resist by creating?”

The performers (Martina Romano, Carolina Parisi, Simona Rando and Alice Sanni) create a myriad of evolutionary scenes, during which dresses become containers, perhaps suggestive of venus fly traps, and forms of various creatures are evoked. When human evolution takes hold, more complex and contemporary threads become evident, such as pressure to conform to societal norms or trends, suffrage and female emancipation, ribbons symbolically being used to restrain performers and silence them. In fact, symbolism and ambiguity are deliberate devices employed, propagating a further stated intent from the synopsis “ogni storia, ogni vita, no ha mai un solo significato”, which translates as “every story, every life, never just has one meaning”. Such is the seamless fluidity of the movement, that you never have time to dwell.

From a performance perspective, the key is the choreography, which was exquisitely directed and executed. For some of the manoeuvres, complete trust between performers was required, testament to the teamwork of the ensemble.

A special mention to the lighting design by Stefano Barbagalllo, which truly helped to define and enhance Alter_Azione; it was visually so very impressive.

Metamorphosis cannot exist without movement. In this sense, a show predominantly based around dance is a well-chosen medium. A beautifully performed, evocative and uplifting production; they did Hamlet proud.

Amir Nisi

Roger Kay

Roger is a theatre director and producer who ran Rialto Theatre in Brighton for nearly a decade. He co-founded Pretty Villain Productions and Rialto Productions, has produced 26 plays and directed several at Brighton Fringe.

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The Blurb:

"To tell of bodies changed into new forms is what inspires my spirit. O gods, if these transformations are your doing, inspire my project, so that the song may unfold from the beginning of time to the present day." Thus begins the prologue of Ovid's Metamorphoses.

  The transformation of the substance and appearance of things, of a condition, is the very essence of life and, therefore, of art. The chrysalis that becomes a butterfly, leaves and flowers, Daphne who transforms into a laurel tree, forever dear to Apollo, Gregor who turns into a cockroach. Metamorphosis is change, an alteration that generates and creates. In death, life; in life, death. Nature is the starting point. In both nature and art, metamorphosis is the tool through which each being creates its own distinct, defined, and unique identity, one with which it can fly, travel, dance. Create by resisting, or resist by creating?

Nature provides us with examples every day, as do culture and art: the butterfly, flowers, blades of grass, birds, the rainbow—all use transformation to adapt to life in nature, evolving. These are images in motion, nature in motion, where each form generates an element that evolves and grows to become its own. No story, no life, ever has a single meaning.

  What shapes the personality, the character, the soul of a man or woman throughout their life helps to establish the boundary between what is good and what is evil, both for oneself and for others.

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