ALCESTI (O DEL RUMORE DEI PENSIERI)

But once more he saw her face, turned back, in a smile as clear as hope, a promise: to him she would return, grown, from the dark of death, to him, still living…

Then he pressed his hands to his forehead, kneeling, so as to see nothing but that smile.

Alcestis, R. M. Rilke

Suite Alcestis is a reworking of Euripides’ Alcestis, a project Zerogrammi has been developing since 2014.

The story of Euripides’ heroine unfolds in two distinct and complementary chapters, both directed by choreographer Stefano Mazzotta. These two creations—one evolving from the other—approach, through Euripides’ tragedy, the themes of loving farewell, sacrifice, and death: recurring motifs in the literature of all times. Yet is there still room for the idea of sacrifice within contemporary pedagogy? Are we still capable of perceiving the aching poetry embedded in farewell, even as we grow unaccustomed to the experience of distance? What is love in the age of liquid society?

Alcestis gives body and voice to these questions, turning to poetry—the language of beauty and pain, of salvation and hope; a universal language capable of transcending historical time and cultural difference.

The first chapter of the work premiered in Germany in April 2014, in collaboration with the Osnabrück State Theatre and its dance company. In February 2015, the second and final chapter—ALCESTIS (OR, ON THE SOUND OF FAREWELL)—was presented, created in collaboration with Luft Casa Creativa, Teatro Nuovo Torino, and Agorà Coaching Project.