Always attentive to new developments in the theatrical realm, the Altri Percorsi Season of the Fondazione Teatro Donizetti continues on Thursday, February 6 at the Teatro Sociale (8:30 PM) hosting for the first time Menoventi, a company with several accolades to its name, which on this occasion presents Odradek, a performance that takes us into the home of a woman caught in a spiral of online orders and desires fulfilled even before they are requested. Dramaturgy, direction, and lighting by Gianni Farina. Performers: Consuelo Battiston and Francesco Pennacchia. Music and sound design by Andrea Gianessi. Set design by Andrea Montesi and Gianni Farina with consultation from Enrico Isola and Daniele Torcellini. Costumes by Consuelo Battiston and Elisa Alberghi. Voices: Tamara Balducci, Leonardo Bianconi, Maria Donnoli, Chiara Lagani. Production by Menoventi/E Production, Ravenna Festival, Accademia Perduta/Romagna Teatri, OperaEstate Festival Veneto/CSC in collaboration with Masque Teatro. Duration 1 hour and 10 minutes without intermission.
Born from an idea by Consuelo Battiston and Gianni Farina, founders of Menoventi, Odradek is a contemporary fable inspired by the warnings of Gunther Anders and the whims of Franz Kafka. In M’s home, an ordinary woman holed up in her domestic comfort zone, every desire is fulfilled even before it’s conceived. In this land of plenty, the spiral of conformism has eliminated every whim, thus marketing predictions are infallible. The unwitting messenger of this enchanted world is Q, an express courier for the most important delivery company in the sector, the omnipresent Odradek. From the relationship between the two, unusual questions arise: where do objects come from? And news? Who speaks on the other end of the device?
A malfunction in the electrical system will allow these mass hermits to glimpse a reflection of the invisible fabric of the world, triggering a clash between environment and ambition, a struggle between illusion and imagination. The unconscious innocence of today’s life, or the inability to feel the weight of responsibility for one’s actions, sometimes cracks and lets through the symptoms of a singular, unusual anguish; like a dark shadow, the feeling of meaninglessness of one’s existence creeps into M’s mind.
“The enchantment that envelops and homogenizes the protagonists of this fable seems to spread from the domestic appliances and objects, inert products that occasionally give the” impression of observing human activities and seem to judge their consumers. In the solitude and silence of the evening, the house seems to have a thousand eyes, and the goods come to life to dispense advice and warnings, strong with a superhuman wisdom uncontaminated by unproductive impulses or superfluous emotions.
Menoventi was founded in 2005 and established itself in Faenza a few years later. The founders Consuelo Battiston and Gianni Farina collaborate with Italian and European artists to create works that intersect theater, music, radio, video, and visual arts. Without a predefined poetics, the group adopts languages and registers oriented by the peculiarities of the thematic core of each project, generating a heterogeneous collection of scenic objects. The only fixed point in Menoventi’s research is the audience, an active referent that is addressed, spied on, deceived, and which – willingly or unwillingly – enters the game. Menoventi has received the Lo Straniero, Hystrio, Rete Critica, EXTRA, and Loro del Reno awards.
