Teatro Sotterraneo - The Theatre Underground
Next event:
Wednesday, 10 April 2019
- O HOMEM DUPLICADO by José Saramago
with Massimo Rizzante
associate professor of Comparative literatures at the University of Trento
Readings: Stefano Detassis
Professor Tertuliano Máximo Afonso finds out accidentally while watching a movie that one of the actors looks exactly like him. In this novel published in 2002, Saramago describes the protagonist’s desperate search for his unknown double, a search that will have disturbing consequences when the two will meet.
Where and when:
17.30 (all events)
On the second Wednesday on the month, at
Spazio Archeologico Sotterraneo del SAS - Piazza Cesare Battisti - Trento
curator: Caterina Mordeglia
The Theatre Underground
The history of drama and of its masterpieces unfolds over time through rewritings and adaptations on a long and winding road. By presenting and discussing texts from different eras, the series of readings of The theatre underground, organized by the academic staff of the Department of Humanities of the University of Trento with the actors of Stagione teatrale of Centro Culturale Santa Chiara, aims to explore the many themes and narrative mechanisms that recur and connect the classical theatre to contemporary writing.
The readings will take place at the Sass Underground Archaeological Space, the symbolic location of the Roman Tridentum, near Teatro Sociale, an inspiring space that will provide the perfect setting to connect past and present.
Masterpieces on stage - The double
Sosia, the slave created by Plautus two centuries before Christ, is the first character in western theatre who has to face himself. This experience, which was very intriguing in the play of the Latin poet, inspired medieval, modern and contemporary writers, often shifting between comedy and tragedy, with adaptations full of anthropological and psychoanalytical implications. This series of six readings collected in the The theatre underground, curated by Caterina Mordeglia, makes an overview of many of these works from Plautus’ theatrical double to the contemporary multiplication created by the Portuguese José Saramago, spanning over 2000 years of drama and literature.
The full programme:
Monday, 5 November 2018
- Presentation of the reading series
with:
Guido Paduano (University of Pisa)
Margherita Rubino (University of Genova)
Readings: Maura Pettorruso
Wednesday, 21 November 2018
- Plautus' AMPHYTRUO
with Caterina Mordeglia
Associate professor of History of Latin drama at the University of Trento
Readings: Marta Marchi / Emanuele Cerra
NB: this reading will take place at the Anna Proclemer hall at Teatro Sociale
Amphitryon is a commander of the Theban army. Jupiter, in the guise of Amphitryon, seduces his wife Alcmena, who is unaware that he is not her husband. Sosia, slave of Amphitryon, is deceived just like his master; Mercury steals his identity so that the father of the gods can carry out his plan. With this double exchange of roles with tragicomic consequences, Plautus staged the theme of the double for the first time in western drama.
Wednesday, 12 December 2018
- Molière's AMPHITRYON
with Paolo Tamassia
Associate professor of French literature at the University of Trento
Readings: Emanuele Cerra and Clara Setti
With his Amphitryon, staged for the first time in Paris in 1668, Molière inaugurated his adaptations of Plautus’ works, which continued with The Miser (L’Avare). Reference to aristocratic society of the time - and maybe to the affair of Luis XIV with the Marquise de Montespan - gives the comedy a touch of witty satire, which reveals some thrilling details of the habits and power dynamics of XVII century France.
Wednesday, 16 January 2019
- Heinrich von Kleist's AMPHITRYON
with Luca Crescenzi
full professor of German literature at the University of Trento
Readings: Maura Pettorruso and Massimo Lazzeri
Printed in Dresden in 1807 and heavily influenced by Molière’s adaptation, Heinrich von Kleist’s Amphitryon for the first time reworked the complex and, to a certain extent, dramatic story of Amphitryon and Alcmena who were, as Goethe put it, “victims of the confusion of identities”.
Wednesday, 13 February 2019
- Edgar Allan Poe's WILLIAM WILSON
with Francesca Di Blasio
associate professor of English literature at the University of Trento
Readings: Stefano Detassis
The life of young William Wilson, the main character of this short story published by Edgar Allan Poe in 1839, is obsessively intertwined with the life of his mysterious enemy of the same name, who has almost the same appearance but significantly different behaviour. When Wilson will finally manage to kill his enemy, he will find out that that was not a hated doppelgänger, but a mirror reflecting his image.
Wednesday, 13 March 2019
- THE DOUBLE by Fëdor Dostoevskij
with Adalgisa Mingati
associate professor of Russian language and literature at the University of Trento
Readings: Emanuele Cerra
In this 1846 novel, Fëdor Dostoevskij describes the psychological struggle of the main character Jakov Goljadkin. He is gradually driven into madness by his double and rival, Goljadkin Jr., who is nothing but the projection of his conscience.
Wednesday, 10 April 2019
- O HOMEM DUPLICADO by José Saramago
with Massimo Rizzante
associate professor of Comparative literatures at the University of Trento
Readings: Stefano Detassis
Professor Tertuliano Máximo Afonso finds out accidentally while watching a movie that one of the actors looks exactly like him. In this novel published in 2002, Saramago describes the protagonist’s desperate search for his unknown double, a search that will have disturbing consequences when the two will meet.
All events are free and open to the public. Limited seating.
The series of readings can be listed among the professional training courses for teaching staff in the Autonomous Province of Trento.
Readings by:
Trentino Spettacoli
Organization:
Centro Servizi Culturali S. Chiara with collaboration from the Department of Humanities
