‘Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar)’, a play inspired by Shakespeare’s tragedy, is one of the most memorable pieces in the Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio repertoire. Romeo Castellucci brings it back to the theatre in a new version made up of ‘fragments’ that evoke the original, ground-breaking 1997 production. The piece focuses on the merciless clash between two worlds, the ethereal and the obscure. Today, it would be almost impossible to restage the original, monumental version of ‘Julius Caesar’, which is why the Cesena-based director, who loves to stage the unstageable, decided to devise a shorter version made up of the most emblematic scenes. The subtitle itself, ‘Pezzi staccati (Spared parts)’ evokes the idea of “fragments that say something about the Shakespearian tragedy using dramatic devices.” In fact, the show consists of a series of fragments around which the plot unfolds, or rather, thickens. Castellucci stresses the origin of voice by placing an endoscope inside the throat of the actor, a device that allows the audience to see voice’s inner journey until it arrives at the vocal chords. Mark Antony’s funeral oration is an essential part of the show and could not be omitted: his display of eloquence becomes a deadly political weapon, a pure stream of mass persuasion. At the same time, it gradually dissolves into soundless words that reflect the fictional basis of theatre.
Cesena, Italy, 1960. RC is known throughout the world for creating a theatre founded on the totality of the arts and aimed at an integral perception. He has also written various theoretical essays on directing. His theatre engages in a type of dramaturgy that overturns the primacy of literature, thus becoming a complex and supple form of art, a theatre made of extraordinarily rich images expressed in a language as comprehensible as music, sculpture, painting or architecture. Director and stage, lighting and costume designer Romeo Castellucci created in 1981 the company Societas Raffaello Sanzio, he is internationally recognised as one of today’s most important for its radical aesthetic stance and the profoundly human nature of its creations. Since 2006, Romeo Castellucci has also worked on individual Opera projects. His stagings are regularly invited to and produced by the most prestigious international theatres, opera houses and festivals, in over fifty countries covering all the continents.
In 2008, he was named “associated artist” by the artistic committee of the Festival d’Avignon for its 62nd edition. In 2010, Le Monde chose his Trilogy ‘Divina Commedia’ as best performance, and the only theatrical work included among the most significant cultural events of the decade 2000-2010. In 2013 the Venice Biennale awarded him its prestigious Prize Golden Lion for his career in theatre.
Concept and direction: ROMEO CASTELLUCCI
Dramaturgy: ROMEO CASTELLUCCI
Music: Scott Gibbons
Costume Design: ROMEO CASTELLUCCI
Lighting: usually any light
Visual Design: ROMEO CASTELLUCCI
Stage and set design: ROMEO CASTELLUCCI
Production and distribution: Societas in the frame of the Special Project City of Bologna 2014
Photo © Guido Mencari
Website: WWW.SOCIETAS.ES
