ROMEO CASTELLUCCI / SOCIETAS RAFFAELLO SANZIO

10/13 november
Teatro Vascello

10/11 november h. 20.30 | 12 november h. 16.00 e 22.00 | 13 november h.17.00

With “Il velo nero del pastore” Romeo Castellucci—perhaps one of Italy’s most internationally renowned playwrights—returns to Rome to present his latest work; the result of his extended theatrical exploration into the universe of mystery, the sacred, limitations imposed by language and what can be performed or represented on stage.
The starting point for this latest production by the Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio is the similarly entitled novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Minister's Black Veil” (1836): gathered together on a Sunday morning, a Puritan community in New England witness the arrival of their new minister, his face covered with a semi-transparent crêpe gauze veil. He will not remove this for the rest of his life and indeed, he is buried with his face covered by this same veil. Castellucci says that «The minister represents rectitude; rigidity and without evolution. The dramatic element lies not only within the character of the minister but also in his congregation which observes him, not understanding, disconcerted and which reacts accordingly». The veil unsettles the congregation while the minister's sermons—though no different from the usual— have a very profound effect on the listeners. The inhabitants of the village would like to receive explanations but none are forthcoming, not even for Elizabeth—the minister's betrothed—who renounces matrimony.
It is the mystery of the veil, the subtraction of the face which appears like a black hole in the individual and the disconcerting effect on the community that attracts Castellucci. In Hawthorne's interpretation, he does not narrate the plot but uses the story as a starting point to extract and mould elemental figures and theatrical energy to nourish his dramatic interpretation.
His theatre develops through image and sound, often though the use of words removed from their significance which are cast to an audience seen not as a passive receptor but more as a primary reagent.
Following his representations “Divine Comedy” (Avignon Festival 2008), “Sul Concetto di Volto nel Figlio di Dio” (Romaeuropa 2010) and his staging of “Parsifal by Richard Wagner (La Monnaie 2011), with his latest work “Il velo nero del pastore”, he presents the most recent findings from his quest into the realms of the religious, not in its liturgical or theological interpretation but more towards the concept of “Homo sacer”. As the philosopher Agamben reminds us, this concept has Indo-European roots which signify a “separated man”, torn from his natural dimension.