LUCE estratti LUCE 324 _ Calafiore _ Cristian Zucaro | Page 8

La Scortecata
spettacolo teatrale
liberamente tratto
da lo cunto de li
cunti di Giambattista
Basile /
La scortecata (The
Flayed), a play
drawn freely from
Lo cunto de li cunti
(The Tale of Tales)
by Giambattista
Basile
Emma Dante is a director who has been
following this line greatly. What is your point
of view with regard to balance and permeable
boundaries between scenography and light?
Is the visual equation that is established
between these two elements always crucial
when setting up a show?
I find the path that has accompanied me
interesting. To light a stage set, find an
environment, recreate it, and to build
environments. The stage and light: light
initially shows us the stage, with J. Svoboda,
who was the first scenographer to use light,
and to build his scenes based on the
potentiality of the intervention of light in
drama, took a step that cannot be neglected.
In shows where there is no stage set, we work
with the actors, and light determines the space
and time, it also becomes an actor. In a show
like Bestie di scena (The beasts of the stage),
where there is no scenery and also no
costumes, for example, also light can be an
accessory that adds to the aesthetics or the
interior decoration, it must be functional to the
drama, it must be essential.
In La scortecata (The Flayed), a play drawn
freely from Lo cunto de li cunti (The Tale of
Tales) by Giambattista Basile, the dissolution
of the scenography process re-encodes space
and darkness, and the lighting system,
from the very start of the show, appears on
stage and becomes the filigree, the skeleton
of an inexistent scenography.
How did you create the space and light in
this play?
In line with Emma's theatre world, I would say:
We imagined these two centenarian sisters in a
Neapolitan slum, which therefore is closed,
cramped and with a door at the road-level,
the only entrance for light (on stage in the
proscenium, in the centre).
Around them, in a nook, a presumed candle-
light. This lowered ring, with fire-coloured
lights, I feel, is also the reverse or skeleton of
the stage of the Commedia dell’arte (popular
comedy), and therefore in line with an aspect
of the representation of the characters, who
instead of reciting above, are oppressed by it.
In view of your experience, what was it like
from your lighting control console, and how
did the evolution and change in the DNA
of light sources, from incandescent and
gas-discharge to LED electronics and robotics
in the motorized spotlights, influence the
construction of your shows?
I was hypnotized by the world of light also
because of an old analogue light controller; to
adjust light with one’s own fingers is
unbeatable from a sensory level, far better
than any touch screen!
Naturally the progress in technology must be
welcomed, controlled, supported and made to
evolve as required. I would not abolish
incandescent lights, but on the market lately
we have LED fixtures that are also motorized
(like those used in Siracusa this year) and
that have reached an excellent photographic
quality level and power.
I believe we can start to think of using this
new generation of lighting units also for the
theatre, where for a long time we have been
reluctant to use LED spotlights and motorized
spotlights for a number of different reasons,
but mainly due to a quality level that still was
not sufficient. Unfortunately, the Italian
cultural policies do not foresee a renewal of
the materials, even though a decrease in the
costs and the ecological impact is quite
relevant. Now would be the right time,
I feel, to invest in this equipment for the
theatre here in Italy too.
Which is your secret place?
Nature, in the mountains, in the woods.
Silence.
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LUCE 324 / LANTERNA MAGICA