Somewhere between popular cabaret and corporal poetry, a dance of love and theatre of crudeness, rage and wisdom, on the same stage level of popular eclectic music and humanist words, Pippo Delbono's plays slide into the breaches of a frail humanity. Founded in 1986 with Argentinian actor Pepe Robledo, the company led by this Italian stage poet forms a brotherhood of actors, some of them from the margins of normative society who have become symbols of a theatre of truth. Pippo Delbono presented three plays at the Avignon Festival in 2002, Il Silenzio, Guerra et La Rabbia.
Henri V (Henry V)
Shakespeare's text recounts a battle, the story of a capricious king who “wants France”, in the same way as an irritable child demands a toy, here and now. In tackling a play from classical repertory for the first time, Pippo Delbono and his company wanted to turn Henry V's combats into the mother of all wars. Played by a troupe where gesture takes precedence over the spoken word, an isolated phrase from the Shakespearian drama becomes a whole scene, a flag dance represents the game of strategy, a simple prop all the gold and all the ornate costumes. A few objects, hardly any at all, to express the “je ne sais quoi” that drives humanity into murderous madness. In this production, in the form of an anachronistic folk parade, pre-war France whirls around to realistic songs, men and women twirl around, search for each other, hide from each other and lose themselves in a surrealistic ballet. Each time Pippo Delbono puts on this heroic symphony, he works with a group of people from the place where it is performed. Forming an integral part of the production, this time a chorus of amateur actors discovered by the Cavaillon Scène Nationale have been asked to join the ensemble movements of this anti-martial poetry. For this work of Shakespeare has been transformed into a long poem on courage and the struggle that every individual has with themselves. Sparsely played, the Shakespearian drama viewed as a rock opera urges the audience to conquer the impossible, to resist the unacceptable.
Distribution
stage direction Pippo Delbono
cast : Pippo Delbono, Gustavo Giocosa, Pepe Robledo et un chœur d'acteurs amateurs réuni par la Scène nationale de Cavaillon et le Festival d'Avignon
sound : Mario Intruglio
lighting : Simone Goggiano
Production
production : compagnie Pippo Delbono
© photo Pascal Gely Agence Bernand / Enguerand
