Mourning is a major political issue

The pain and suffering of an “enslaved”, abused woman is a political issue

Tutto Brucia –Everything is burning

A live performance by the award winning Italian theatrical group MOTUS inspired by The Trojan Women of Euripides

Held on September 22nd– 23rd -24th at the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation

Inspired by “The Trojan Women” of Euripides, Tutto Brucia is a live performance held in September by the award-winning Italian theatrical group MOTUS.  

The event organized by the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation within the context of  the European Program “Ancient Drama:  Interdisciplinary and Cross Art Approaches”, aiming to demonstrate the inner connection between tragedy and horror, could become a springboard, giving a new meaning to the ancient drama and in the meantime decoding the terror and the outbreak of violence in our everyday life.  

“I mourn for the sons who died in war. For the women made slaves. For the lost freedom

Oh beloved creatures, come back, come, come and take us away!”

Hecuba whispers these words, interwoven with the music and lyrics by Francesca Morello, raising questions.

“Which lives matter? What makes a life grief-worthy?”

Cassandra rips the air with a heavy knife and a peasant sickle, as in the southern European collective rites of condolence that have disappeared.

This is the opening scene of Tutto Brucia, inspired by Euripides’ “The Trojan Women” – through the words of J.-P. Sartre, Judith Butler, Ernesto De Martino, Edoardo Viveiros de Castro, NoViolet Bulawayo, Donna Haraway.

The lament spreads through that black Mediterranean which – then as now – is the scene of conquests of colonial Europe, of migrations and diaspora. Among the ruins of an empty and distorted space, covered by ashes and corpses of sea monsters, where everything has already happened, the question of radical vulnerability emerges.

Never more than now does mourning appear to us as a political issue.

Yet, it is through pain that the protagonists in the tragic scene are materially transformed – they become other than themselves, processing the violence suffered.

A metamorphosis that opens to other possible forms.

For, the end of the world is but the end of a world.

 The broken body of Hecuba, the prophetic word of Cassandra, who sees beyond the end, the spectral cry of Polyxena, the invocation to the dead of Andromache, the violence suffered by

Helen and finally the most fragile and helpless body, that of a child, Astyanax – give voice to the most exposed and vulnerable subjects.

And to the spectres that besiege them/us.

idea and direction Daniela Nicolò and Enrico Casagrande

with Silvia Calderoni, Barbara Novati and R.Y.F.(Francesca Morello) on songs and live music

lyrics Ilenia Caleo and R.Y.F. (Francesca Morello)

dramaturgical research Ilenia Caleo

text editing and subtitles Daniela Nicolò

lighting design Simona Gallo

technical direction and lights Simona Gallo and TheoLonguemare

soundscapes Demetrio Cecchitelli

live sound design Enrico Casagrande

sound engineering Martina Ciavatta

technical assistance Francesco Zanuccoli

props and scene sculptures _vvxxii

video and graphics Vladimir Bertozzi

production Francesca Raimondi

organization and logistics Shaila Chenet

promotion Ilaria Depari

communication Dea Vodopi

press office comunicattive.it

international diffusion Lisa Gilardino

production Motus and Teatro di Roma – Teatro Nazionalewith Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER (BE)

supported by the Residency centres: L’arboreto – TeatroDimora | La Corte Ospitale ::: Centro di Residenza Emilia-Romagna and Santarcangelo dei Teatri

in collaboration with AMAT and Comune di Fabriano

with the support of MiC, Regione Emilia-Romagna

thanks to HĒI black fashion, Gruppo IVAS

Duration: 75 minutes