“Iliad sings of a world in which a competitive ideology and the ethic of success leave no room for humanity and justice, humans decide nothing but are acted upon by the gods in a terrible war with neither winners nor losers. Conscience and choice are not (yet) things for humans: their civilization will have to wait until the age of Tragedy to know personal responsibility and the full weight of freedom from those gods who are the cause of everything but are not to blame for anything. In that archaic world dominated by force, inescapable fate and capricious gods, it is not difficult to mirror ourselves and recognize our own, our lives dominated by destructive forces that are above and within us and beyond control, in their eternal flight beyond the aspirations of men. There are all the seeds of the decline of our West in Iliad, which, however, also contains those of conscience, responsibility and choice.”

Roberto Aldorasi

The exhibition, supported by the Fondazione Teatro Donizetti, is part of the collateral initiatives at Iliade. Il gioco degli dèi the new play that opens the Prose Season 2023-2024, of which the Foundation is a co-producer. The exhibition aims to document the long and intense creative process: the genesis of an idea that then becomes text and image; it does so in order not to forget the powerful visual dimension inherent in a theatrical performance. The visitor/viewer is immersed in the realization processes among studies, afterthoughts, insights at the end of which is the performance: the new moment of exchange to reach an unprecedented result… every night.

The setting up

The exhibition is spread over two small but highly connoted spaces, such as the exhibition space near the ticket office and the Donizetti Studio: suitable for an immersive, almost enveloping setting in the first part and more private, almost intimate, in the second. Here the visitor comes into contact with the sketches and graphic studies prepared by Alberto Favretto close enough to be observed, admired, questioned. In the main room, all the deployed gods incline toward those who stand before them: powerful and magnetic. There are many iconographic references that span time and cultures, rigor and invention, building an unprecedented visual world for Massimo Troncanetti’s sets, Francesco Esposito’s costumes, Alberto Favretto, Raquel Silva and Marta Montevecchi’s puppets. The line of figures or that of a profile brings to mind the graphism, elegance and synthesis of Attic vases, an elongated gaze and an oval face bring to mind the forms of contemporary art, perhaps Modigliani’s, the rich embroidery of a dress brings to the eyes the textures of Klimt. Spears, shields, gazes and gestures suggest the constant, and inescapable, contact with written and intangible sources…such as the necessary journey to Turkey made by directors Roberto Aldorasi and Alessio Boni. Heroes as simulacra or idols, far from the human dimension. This is why the puppets are real stage machines. Male or female, manipulated by the actors, they are always oversized; with their iconic movements they eloquently translate the character of the characters. The temperament of the characters or the uniqueness of their gestures is defined through signs and colors, dense and deep hues, signs as light as an intuition: many paths taken, only some then chosen. Large-format prints are useful in suggesting immersion among battlefields, or summoning before gods and heroes. The deployed warriors evoke Greek or Trojan ones, mark the path of preparation for soldiering or that of becoming a hero. Male and female stories intersect in the focuses devoted to Paris, Helen and Agamemnon, and of Achilles, Andromeda, Hector accompanied by key words. Helen makes love to Paris and Aphrodite in a mix of beauty and opportunity, next stands Agamemnon with his will to possess. Achilles is leather, bronze, Mediterranean; Hector is homeland, father, freedom; Andromeda is beauty, belonging, victim of war. A powerful face-to-face, personal, intimate and collective as it happens with the events narrated.

Clelia Epis

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