PETER STEIN |
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PENTHESILEA |
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Furious Penthesilea leads a battle line of / Amazons with crescent shields, and she /glows in the middle of thousands fastening /golden belts around the exposed breast, / female warrior, and the maiden dares to run / with men.
(Aeneid, I, 570-574) The myth tells that Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons, was killed duelling against Achilles, who, realising that he was fighting with a women, fell suddenly in love with her. In that form the myth reaches Kleist (1777-1811). In his tragedy (1808) the romantic writer devises a succession of situations that starts exactly when Achilles strikes Penthesilea. The role playing and the dramatic development of feelings evolve to the tragic end which reveals the complexity of the human heart and breaks the simple contrast of the universal characters of the male hero and the female heroine. The complex poetic language of Kleist makes Penthesilea one of the harder German tragedies to be translated and represented. This challenge is taken by acclaimed German director Peter Stein, who transforms parts of the narration into action for a “chorus” of Amazons. Through the movements choreographed by André Gingras and the music score for voices, |
gong and steps by composer Arturo Annecchino, the army of amazons becomes an integral part of the show, interacting with Maddalena Crippa as Penthesilea. “The strength, the violence of nature, of emotion, of feeling and even of the irony of human existence are all unveiled before the spectator’s eyes… they become an emotional experience through the exalting and totalizing relation between woman and man which for the director – one of Europe’s great masters – is the key to this rarely staged tragedy.” L’Unità After the representation in different European Ancient sites, an indoor version with a reduced cast and set has been elaborated for touring. PRODUCTION DATES |
Winter season (indoor): |