9th Edition, 2002 – ALLEGRO FINALE
Rovigo, 21–22 June 2002

Participants:

TEATRO DI PIANURA (Reggio Emilia): O-Scena
TEATRO MINIMO (Andria): Ettore Carafa
SANTA SANGRE (Rome): Celle Silenziose
CRONOPIOS (Sassari): Studi su Antigone
EDGAR LUVE (Livorno): Ambalaze

Conference: NEW THEATRE, OLD INSTITUTIONS

With the friendly and unpaid participation of:
Teatrino Clandestino, Fanny & Alexander, Roberto Latini and Fortebraccio Teatro, Masque Teatro, Gaetano Ventriglia

Since its first edition in 1994, Festival Opera Prima – Martino Ferrari has established itself as an essential point of reference for companies belonging to a new generation of theatre-makers. As confirmed by the awarding of the Giuseppe Bartolucci Prize, the Festival has played what might be described as a historic role: that of drawing forceful attention to a serious anomaly within the Italian theatrical landscape, which in recent years has tended to penalise young companies, especially those committed, with artistic merit, to experimenting with new languages.

This year, however, the Mayor of Rovigo, who also serves as Councillor for Culture, Paolo Avezzù, excluded our Festival from municipal funding. In statements made to the local press, he explained that this decision was based on an artistic choice to replace it with an amateur theatre programme. This was despite the fact that, over the years, Opera Prima had represented one of the very few, if not the only, opportunities for Rovigo to achieve cultural visibility on a national scale.

Although the Festival could still rely on other forms of public funding from the Province of Rovigo and the Veneto Region, as well as support from several private sponsors, the news arrived so close to the event that it threatened the Festival’s very survival.

It was eventually decided, as an act of resistance against a cultural policy that in Italy increasingly tends to censor whatever is new and vital, to organise Festival Opera Prima nevertheless. This year, however, it would last only two days: 21 and 22 June 2002.

The first day, in keeping with the Festival’s traditional commitment to promoting and giving visibility to new theatre, was devoted to performances by five young Italian theatre companies: Teatro di Pianura from Sant’Ilario, Reggio Emilia, with O-Scena; Teatro Minimo from Andria, Bari, with a production dedicated to the memory of Ettore Carafa; Santa Sangre from Rome with a performative installation entitled Celle Silenziose; Cronopios from Carloforte, Sassari, with Studi su Antigone; and Edgar Luve from Livorno with Ambalaze, freely inspired by Camus’s The Stranger.

The second day was entirely devoted to a conference entitled New Theatre and Old Institutions, intended to assess the current state and future prospects of new Italian theatre. The conference was organised in partnership with the Primavera dei Teatri Festival in Castrovillari and the festivals of Santarcangelo and Volterra.

Opera Prima concluded with a celebration, Allegro finale, featuring the musical group Marmaja and several artists who had first come to prominence in previous editions of the Festival, including Teatro del Lemming, Motus, Teatrino Clandestino, Masque Teatro, Fortebraccio Teatro and Gaetano Ventriglia.