Face to face with classical mythology in the impossible interview that the Sicilian director Emma Dante proposes to the monolithic giant Polyphemus
"Anybody in?"
"N'ata vote?"
The impossible interview of Emma Dante to the mythological character of Polyphemus start with these two simple lines, which already presage how the rest of the show will continue. Between double meanings and games of witty words, between quotations and ironic and unsettling theatrical authorizations, with one Emma Dante in the role of herself which, in an original and unpublished way, chooses here to reinvent its stylistic language, imprinting it on the word and on the verb rather than on the expressive physicality of the bodies on stage to which the Sicilian director and playwright has commonly accustomed us.
Emma Dante, in the role of the interviewer, has the task to know and make known to the public the "real" Polyphemus (Salvatore D'Onofrio), telling the meeting with his legendary enemy, Ulysses, to undermine, surprisingly, some common places related to his figure.
Trembling, I meet Polyphemus and slowly conquer him, he lets himself go, shows himself ironic, talkative, tells the arrival of the enemy from his point of view and displaces me.
Initially closed in on himself like a rock, not enticed by the idea of opening up to one who "makes shows" in life, the monolithic giant gradually manages to tell about himself and dissolve all reluctance.
It will be discovered, for example, that Polifemo does not speak Sicilian but Neapolitan dialect. Because it is only the story that wants him holed up in a deep cave off the coast of Aci Trezza but in reality, as he himself tells, he is originally from the Campi Flegrei, where he even learned to cook. In short, in the intense exchange of jokes and verbal skirmishes that takes place on the proscenium, we learn that the "poor one-eyed giant" targeted by history and classical mythology is actually a good being ("Signò, I song has always been a peaceful, monotonous being, yes, but harmonious, and the sheep, the rams, the kids have never been appauràto 'i me"), caused by the cleverness and cunning of Ulysses, the "Nobody" who has ruined his existence.
And in the interview with Polyphemus there is space for him too, Ulysses (Carmine Maringola), who prefers to be called Odysseus. An exhibitionist showman, arrogant and full of himself that is considered a winner of the history that celebrated and praised him through the verses of Homer, Euripides, Dante Alighieri, James Joyce and Foscolo. He also speaks Neapolitan because "The king of the fraudster and deception could not speak another language".
As a background to the dialogue between Emma Dante, Polifemo and Ulysses, the Homeric tale "narrated" through the language of the bodies of three dancers which in turn move three wooden puppets. A dancing trio, a modern transliteration of the "classic" choir.
The landing of Ulysses on the island of the Cyclops, but also the sad story of Penelope who weaves the canvas waiting for her beloved, are masterfully expressed through the theater-dance, a more "physical" linguistic code that is much more reminiscent of the typical stylistic touch of stage writing by Emma Dante. Musical songs with rock and dark nuances, composed ad hoc for the different moments of the show, are performed live by a singer (the Palermo Serena Ganci) who performs from the top of his console DJ.
Me, Nobody and Polyphemus, represents a continuous mingling of artistic languages, theater, metateatro, dance, music, poetry in verse, history and legend, but also an unusual way of approaching the theater of one of the most innovative and revolutionary authors and directors on the current scene. With that touch of shrewd irony that makes the show both light and witty at the same time, in an encounter with the archaic myth that transmits, in any case, suggestion and undisputed veneration.
