IVREA. Waiting to understand if the Carnival will return to animate the streets and squares of Ivrea next year, the Ivrea party, Sunday 29, will be on stage in Rome, as part of the twenty-seventh edition of the International Festival of Urban Theater.
The merit of this trip to the capital goes to Marco Bandiera, 24, an Ivorian artist who wrote the monologue “The castle is no more”, which will be staged during a particular day of the festival, during which numerous performers will perform in a sort of anthology, which will range from theater to circus art, all in a particular location: the Orange Garden. “There is a kind of magic – comments Bandiera -: bringing our Carnival and the battle to a place that has this name has a special charm”.
The show is an intense monologue: «In twenty minutes I want to try to convey what Carnival represents for me and for many of my friends and fellow citizens. I believe we are lucky to have this feast of self-determination, a definition that I read in a book and that I liked a lot; it is something that resides in a legend, but also in history. My dream is that everyone in the world can have something similar to what Carnival is for us, to find their own space for self-determination. I think, for example, of what the Phrygian cap represents for us, what it means, every year, to wear it. It would be really desirable that all peoples could have what that object and that gesture offer to us Ivrea “.
Speaking of objects, on stage with Marco there will be one particularly significant: an orange, which thanks to the words of the actor will gradually become person, character, event and people. And then there is a uniform, that green tunic with the crow on the back, which starts as a flag and then, in the end, is worn. Things that on the banks of the Dora are easy to understand. But in the capital?
“Certainly making the debut in Ivrea would have been easier: those who have already seen it, like the friends who attended the rehearsals, were excited and moved, but I realize that it is a reaction at least partially vitiated by the fact that for us everything that it has to do with Carnival causes emotions. The real challenge is to understand if these emotions, these values, these meanings can break even in an audience like the Roman one, absolutely unaware of what the Ivrea Carnival is and what it represents ».
But is there the desire to propose it to the Ivrea public? «Absolutely yes – he confesses -. I hope that the city, the Foundation or the Tuchini team can help me to represent “The castle is no more” even in its natural environment. But for now I want to focus on the challenge that I have set myself: trying to excite those who are fasting for Carnival. Explain that the message of our celebration is universal and everyone can make it their own, in every corner of the world ».
In the monologue Marco Bandiera brought much of his experience: «There are my memories, my way of seeing and experiencing both Carnival and battle. I have been shooting oranges in Borghetto since I was a kid and if Carnival had been held this year I would have reached the Golden Crow for ten years of shooting. But passion has deeper roots: at home we have photos of me on the stroller already in uniform, so I don’t exaggerate if I say I’ve always been Tuchino ».
The leitmotif of the show originates from a family anecdote: “My grandmother always says that, when she leaves, she wants to be cremated and that her ashes are scattered in the Lessolo cemetery, to seal the deep bond she has always had with that country. I resumed his thinking, transforming Lessolo into Ivrea and the town cemetery in Ponte Vecchio, setting my story in one of the most intense and vibrant moments of the Carnival for us at the Borghetto: the flag-raising that opens every day of battle. So that bond becomes one with what I feel about Carnival ». Familiar inspiration and familiar direction, curated by Francesca Cordioli, Marco’s fellow student and girlfriend: “She is from Verona and, thanks to the cancellation of the last edition, she has never been able to experience the Carnival, but I have already managed to thrill her with my stories and the many videos we have seen together “. The love between Marco, born in 1997, and theater blossomed when he was 16: «I started working here in Ivrea, with Oliviero Corbetta and I immediately realized that theater was my ideal dimension. Then, after finishing high school, thinking about what I should do of the big one, I put aside acting and enrolled at the Polytechnic. It lasted a year, then the call of the stage was stronger than all the rest: I passed the auditions and I was able to enroll at the National Theater Academy in Rome, where I graduated. So today I can declare myself doctor in acting“. Today, on the strength of his having become a doctor, Marco continues to see himself in the world of theater: «With two fellow academics, Fabio Pallini and Riccardo Ferrauti, we have decided to found a company. For now we have the name, Teatro Rouget, some contacts, many ideas and many dreams. We are at the beginning, in a historical period that is certainly not favorable to leave, but we hope to be able to take off ». Federico Bona