L’Angelo della Storia

L'ANGELO DELLA STORIA

una costellazione di aneddoti storici paradossali

“It’s not that what is past casts its light on what is present, or what is present its light on the past, rather, image is that wherein what has been comes together in a flash with the now to form a constellation.”
Walter Benjamin

In his latest work, philosopher Walter Benjamin describes an angel who flies with his gaze turned to the past and his back to the future: buildings and ideologies rubbles accumulate before his eyes [musical instruments at the bottom of the ocean, malfunctioning radars, beached whales] and the angel would like to stop and mend those rubbles, but a storm swells his wings and drags him relentlessly forward [dead babies, statues in Antarctica, fluorescent rabbits]: we call this storm progress. Although the angel observes the succession of events [hands on piano keys, atomic mushrooms, postcards in the jungle] and tries to resist the storm, he cannot stop and intervene, he cannot glue the pieces together again and rebuild a shared reality, he cannot do absolutely nothing to help us – maybe only because angels don’ t exist [cyanide cocktails, irrational numbers, tales around the fire]. What other conscious being could try to recompose something broken, take stories apart and – flying or not – finally turn around to project their gaze forward?

Credits

concept and direction Sotterraneo
on stage Sara Bonaventura, Claudio Cirri, Lorenza Guerrini, Daniele Pennati, Giulio Santolini
dramaturgy Daniele Villa

light design Marco Santambrogio
costumes Ettore Lombardi
sound design Simone Arganini

producer Eleonora Cavallo
administration Federica Giuliano
international promotion Laura Artoni

production Sotterraneo
coproduction Marche Teatro, Associazione Teatrale Pistoiese, CSS Teatro stabile di innovazione del FVG, Teatro Nacional D. Maria II
with the contribution of Centrale Fies, La Corte Ospitale, Armunia
with the support of Mic, Regione Toscana, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze

artistic residencies Centrale Fies_art work space, La Corte Ospitale, Dialoghi – Residenze delle arti performative a Villa Manin, Armunia, Elsinor/Teatro Cantiere Florida, Associazione Teatrale Pistoiese

Sotterraneo is part of the Fies Factory, associate artist at Piccolo Teatro Milano and is resident at Associazione Teatrale Pistoiese Production Centre

REVIEWS

“Sotterraneo’s new play is not to be missed. It is called L’angelo della Storia (The Angel of History), and it is a clever, beautiful, and important show.”

Oliviero Ponte di Pino, ATeatro webzine di cultura teatrale

“What are historical facts? Undoubtedly, they are acts of conscience, through which human beings can define historical changes, regroup the scattered fragments of the past and recompose an ideal present into something that is both usable and plausible. But precisely by virtue of this, historical facts correspond to big delusions, through which we construct a narrative that is different according to our experiences, countries of origin, financial resources, and end results. […] Over the years, Sotterraneo have recast their theatrical vision, triggering a process – right from the company’s beginnings – that is of such complexity that extends to conceptual works on a larger scale and comes to define theatre itself as no longer the end, but the means through which we delve deeper into the depths of our times.”