Roberta Quarta ANTIGONE’S PRIDE – PERFORMING SOCIETY April 2023 Spain

Roberta Quarta ANTIGONE’S PRIDE – PERFORMING SOCIETY April 2023 Spain

Antigone has reached La Alberca. Antigones coming from different parts of the world, believing in the concrete utopia of theatre. The embroderies of the facades, the frog on the skull, the shells, mythologies of the passage, of the path, of the in-between life and death… symbols, art works in Salamanca that bring somehow to Antigone. Yesterday we were in Salamanca. Today in La Alberca we start the artistic work. We need a lot of concentration, determination in order to dive into the underworld, into the unknown land… Antigone and the pity, brothers in war. So many people working for this. To feel the breath of the other, touching with the breath… La Alberca keeps  such an ancient beauty, two arches, one for marriages, one for the dead… las damas de las almas ring the belts at sunset, which resonate deep inside. Fabio fosters us the keep always in touch with our beauty, to accept the waving of positive and negative… there is a little wonderful theatre made with wood. Then there are the bodies that start to feel each other and to abandon themselves… abandonment, this is a key word Fabio asks us to question… memory of abandonment, in the wide possibilities, abandon, to get abandoned, to abandon oneself… nature is so generous around, it is wonderful, becoming plant, becoming earth…

Roberta Quarta

Today we have started with a presentation of the project in the beautiful municipal theatre of La Alberca. With a beautiful ceiling animated by fantastic animals. We are grateful to this town that is welcoming us. The creation of relatioships is the life in theatre. A walk around, works of art that are not pretentious, that carry you in another rythm of life… don’t protect yourself from what comes, let yourself shake like a leaf in the wind… afternoon we practice pa twan chin and after the tiger movements from Qi Gong. Being reactive like an animal. We speak with Fabio about memories. What are memories? We walk in the forest of castanos altogether. When I feel trust, tears come to my eyes. I have no words (somehow like Erma said) to tell about the beauty of the trees and the ‘silent’ walk, hearing voices of wind, of leaves…

Roberta Quarta

22/4 Today, today, what a long, intense day. It is very late now… i have searched for the poem that Fabio asked us to find in relation to our memory of abandonment. Today we moved between key words of memories and desires, heaviness of memory and desire to be fluid… we have sung songs in our different languages. Many of us have cried… i wanted to be a river of tears. migrants, stories of migrations hardly restricting the freedom, a punishment by law, being a young artist, how can you be dangerous for the power? For the political power. The war, the indifference. Do we turn our head? It is not normal, Fabio continues to say, many injustices, many horrors, justified by the public speech. To normalize, Nyiya says. So many things become normal, also for us as artists? Where is your heart my sister? Where is my heart? I have lost you, you are lost, but… Antigone, come back to Antigone in a scattered life, just remembers of the dead brother, the violated body that deserves care and peace… brothers that kill each other. The physical work brings us in a sensitive land. In the afternoon also Jarek, Carola, Silvia, Sofia participated in the work. This was very important. The poem now… Walentina has arrived.

Roberta Quarta

Yesterday we made a special visit of La Alberca with two persons of the village, Isidro and Domingo from the local theatre association. They have such a knowledge of the village… the rituals for the dead. Death is so present here, says Isidro, because we enjoy so much life… the ‘inquisitors’ headquarters, so cruel persecutions in the name of god.
Then marriages, also some people on balconies participate in the storytelling… then we climb on a hill, a magnificent landscape with yellow ginestras, ay un calvario, but nature beauty overwhelms the crosses.
In the work sessions of morning and afternoon we started to work on the actions, based on the materials we have collected… some images start to appear. Emotion in singing together, the song of Carla, composed by her, and the song of Simo…sharing emotions, without questioning why.
I want to ring the bell. I need to ask how to do to the people of the village.

Roberta Quarta