Theaters and Public Sphere in a Global and Digital Society: Case Studies (2) (Studies in Critical Social Sciences, 236) 9789004526167, 9789004526174, 9004526161

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Theatre(s) and Public Sphere in a Global and Digital Society Volume 2

Studies in Critical Social Sciences Series Editor David Fasenfest (Wayne State University) Editorial Board Eduardo Bonilla-​Silva (Duke University) Chris Chase-​Dunn (University of California–​Riverside) William Carroll (University of Victoria) Raewyn Connell (University of Sydney) Kimberlé W. Crenshaw (University of California, Los Angeles/​ Columbia University) Raju Das (York University) Heidi Gottfried (Wayne State University) Karin Gottschall (University of Bremen) Alfredo Saad-​Filho (King’s College London) Chizuko Ueno (University of Tokyo) Sylvia Walby (Lancaster University)

volume 236

The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/​scss

Theatre(s) and Public Sphere in a Global and Digital Society Case Studies Edited by

Ilaria Riccioni

LEIDEN | BOSTON

Cover illustration: “Arlecchino da Marciapiede”, Fuori2021. Courtesy of Teatro Stabile di Bolzano. Photo: Lineematiche. The Library of Congress Cataloging-​in-​Publication Data is available online at https://​cata​log.loc.gov lc record available at https://​lccn.loc.gov/2022050917

Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/​brill-​typeface. issn 1573-​4 234 isbn 978-​9 0-​0 4-​5 2616-​7 (hardback) isbn 978-​9 0-​0 4-​5 2617-​4 (e-​book) Copyright 2023 by Ilaria Riccioni. Published by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Hotei, Brill Schöningh, Brill Fink, Brill mentis, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Böhlau, V&R unipress and Wageningen Academic. Koninklijke Brill nv reserves the right to protect this publication against unauthorized use. Requests for re-use and/​or translations must be addressed to Koninklijke Brill nv via brill.com or copyright.com. This book is printed on acid-​free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.

Contents  Preface vii  Acknowledgements xi  List of Figures and Tables xii  Notes on Contributors xiv 1  The Impact of Theatre in a Multilingual Province The Case of the Teatro Stabile of Bolzano between New and Old Generations 1 Ilaria Riccioni 2  The Anomaly of the Teatro Stabile of Bolzano A Public Theater on the Border, between Different Languages and Cultures 19 Marco Bernardi 3  State Theater of Bolzano: 70 Years History and Shows in a Book 32 Massimo Bertoldi 4  The Interviews for the Research on the Teatro Stabile di Bolzano Some Methodological Considerations 45 Eleonora Sparano 5  Social Theatre, a Polyphonic Dramaturgy of the Community 68 Claudio Bernardi 6  From the Creative Process to the Relationship with the City The Theatre of the ‘Margin’ by the Carullo-​Minasi Company (Messina, 2011–​2021) 81 Katia Trifirò 7  Theatre Festivals and Urban Public Border Crossing Practices in Comparison 98 Benedetta Pratelli 8  A Relational Theatre Fabrizio Crisafulli’s “Theatre of Places” 108 Mara Nerbano

vi Contents 9  Introducing Performing Human Rights 124 Roberto Prestigiacomo 10  On Stage without a Script A Theatrical Workshop for Professional Training 129 Tiziana Tesauro 11  The Theater of the Oppressed as a Martial Art Theatre, Community, Pedagogy and Politics 142 Alessandro Tolomelli 12  Pier Paolo Pasolini and the Theatre of the Word 154 Emanuele Stochino 13  Dramaturgies of Distancing Dance and Public Space in the Covid Era 166 Andrea Zardi 14  La Trilogia del naufragio by Lina Prosa Dramaturgy and Poetic of Inclusion 180 Chiara Pasanisi 15  The Lavanderia a Vapore, from Madhouse to Dancehouse A Contemporary Experience of Relationship between Theatrical Space and Territorial Communities 190 Matteo Tamborrino 16  Performing Arts and Practices for the Inclusion of Migrants in Milan 205 Martina Guerinoni 17  Teleaudiencias Teatrales Crisis of a Representation 213 Daniela Salinas Frigerio  Index 229

Preface This second volume of Theatre(s) and Public Sphere in a Global and Digital Society collects study cases on the social impact, function and engagement of the theatres from different epistemological research approaches. The volume opens with the chapter concerning the results of the sociological qualitative research carried out by Ilaria Riccioni on the social and political impact of the Teatro Stabile di Bolzano during the years 2018-2020. The first four chapters of this second volume are dedicated to the case of the Teatro Stabile of Bolzano. An explanation of the term Teatro Stabile is therefore necessary which, throughout the volume, will remain in its untranslated Italian form. It was decided not to translate the term Teatro Stabile since this type of theatre encompasses the basic principle of the public theatre system, which sees the “State engaged in the ‘conferral of exceptional powers, concessions of favour and moral protection’ to entities and theatrical institutes that respond to cultural and social purposes, while maintaining high quality standards.”1 The Teatro Stabile is therefore a singularity of the Italian theatre system which implies “the need for collaboration, for the management of the theatre, of two bodies assigned to different and joint functions, the artistic one and the organizational one; the duty of public theatres to initiate a constant action of ‘theatralizing the people’ and encouraging audience participation, also through the use of ‘theatrical proselytizing’ actions, in order to contribute to the cultural and civil education of a community, and at the same time expand the theatre’s catchment area; the need for public theatre to give impetus to the renewal of the scene, supporting new dramaturgy and the renewal of dramatic techniques, also through the performance of a qualified training activity which facilitates the generational turnover of the theatre class.” (Merli, 2007: 8–​9) The first chapter by the undersigned author is dedicated to the field research I carried out from 2018 up until March 2020, a period when the Covid-​19 emergency halted any further field research. There are reflections on the data collected, partially used also in the volume Riccioni i. Teatro e società. Il caso dello Stabile di Bolzano edited by Carocci and published in 2020, with the creation of categories and concluding reflections. Chapter 2 by Bernardi is a precious testimony as a theatre director and as a manager of the Teatro Stabile of Bolzano from 1980 to 2015, who, for 35 years,

1 For further information, see Merli, C. (2007) Il teatro ad iniziativa pubblica in Italia. Milan: Led. p.8.

viii Preface directed the local theatrical scene, consolidating the presence of this institution in South Tyrol. Chapter 3 by Bertoldi, a journalist and theatre critic, is instead dedicated to the history of the Teatro Stabile of Bolzano and its performances, already retraced in his book on the 70 years of the Teatro Stabile, which was published by Electa in 2020. Chapter 4 by Sparano focuses its analysis of the qualitative interviews of the research directed by Ilaria Riccioni on the Teatro Stabile di Bolzano and is therefore closely related to the first chapter. The fifth chapter by Claudio Bernardi focuses on social theatre whose aim is the wellbeing of people, groups and communities in urban environments. Social theatre emerged in Italy in the 1980s, and is the outcome of a number of social urgencies emerging from the suburbs, social exclusion, and marginality. Social theatre “gradually expanded to include activities for the inclusion of migrants, refugees, victims of gender violence and trafficking, and to operate in wide areas such as, for example, theatres of war and territories affected by environmental emergencies, contributing to the intangible reconstruction of communities torn apart by natural or man-​made disasters” (Bernardi). In Chapter 6, Trifirò develops research on the Carullo Minasi company which places its specific focus on the Sicilian territory and in particular on the condition of crossing the Strait of Messina: To this end, the company develops a work on the spatial and symbolic concept of the limit: “intended as a creative resource, both from the spatial point of view, in a direct relationship with places, in the attempt of a conscious crossing aimed at the re-​elaboration of themes and meanings through the artistic language, both from the symbolic point of view, as a dramaturgic landscape connected to a precise anthropological coefficient of the theatrical action.” The concept of limit or trespassing is also the focus of Chapter 7, in which Pratelli develops and explores another form of urban performance: festivals which become autonomous realities that do not simply develop on a territory, but permeate it, bringing to life a relationship of interchange between territorial reality and artistic reality “making use of two case studies, on the Santarcangelo Festival and the VolterraTeatro Festival, respectively”. Also in the eighth chapter by Nerbano, the relationship with the urban territory as a place of appropriation and citizenship is again taken up. The reflections from field research on Fabrizio Crisafulli’s theatre “of places” examine two specific and analogous moments in the artist’s production, albeit developed in distinct and distant time spans: “a cycle of publicly commissioned interventions carried out in a town in the Lazio province (Spirito dei Siti, Formia, 1996–​1998) and a collective theatrical performance inserted in the cultural

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programming of a self-​run social centre in the capital (Alieni Nati, Rome, Ex Lavanderia di Santa Maria della Pietà, 2018).” A work which shows the intertwining of the diverse kinds of logic which define the policies of territories, in this second case the city of Rome, and redefine spaces of confinement and spaces for use by the public/​citizens within urban contexts. In the ninth chapter, Prestigiacomo proposes an interdisciplinary approach which brings together international law and the performance of theatre, music, art, dance, video as they respond to human rights violations. This approach developed two steps, one proposed as a new class at Trinity University at San Antonio, Texas called Performing Human Rights. The second step of this collaboration “was to develop case studies and performances around human rights violations by going on the field and collecting interviews and material used to shape performances within and with the members’ local communities. Our first field project was in Sicily and started in Summer 2019”, working with African migrants in Catania at the Community of Sant’Egidio. In Chapter 10, Tesauro develops a further step, entering the heart of the discussion about the relationship between performance and social intervention by presenting: “a method designed for the professional training of doctors, nurses, social workers and aimed at developing self-​awareness, reflexivity and interpretative skills of one’s own professional plot and his own role identity.” (Tesauro) Once again, the centrality of the body, where the per-​formative tool in the theatre, becomes a formative tool to overcome the mind/​body dichotomy and to recover the symbolic meanings in their formative and performative function in the social sphere. The chapter presents a training experience carried out in Naples showing how “the Trame method, through experiential and engaging learning, based on improvised action, developed reflexivity in action among social workers.” In Chapter 11, Tolomelli tackles the question raised by Tesauro on the dialogue between theatre and education, relaunching the Theatre of the Oppressed, the formative work of Boal. If theatre is still relevant in contemporary society it is precisely because it provides tools to process the dynamics of oppression and can also represent an escape route for the individual. Therefore, the value of theatre in this essay is also examined in its “deep political value of an encounter between citizens who elaborate knowledge and original readings of reality together.” Not only expression, not only formation, but also transformation, this is what seems to be urged in Tolomelli’s essay on theatre and the forms of transformation of society through the aesthetic detachment of a represented, and ultimately surmountable, reality. Chapter 12 by Stochino investigates, through Pasolini’s dramaturgy, a series of social themes and symbolic archetypes which the theatre offers in the

x Preface classical repertoire. Indeed, Pasolini used tragedy as an expressive means to represent the Italian society of the Sixties and Seventies, as a form to consolidate the identity or anti-​identity of a population and a form of citizenship. In Chapter 13, Zardi shifts the focus from the social, urban body to the human body, opening up to an analysis of the use of the body in dance in a public space. To this end, reflecting on the hypothesis that the use of performance is also linked to the social context, and the biological and cultural condition of the viewer. In this sense, the “dancing body does not therefore act in a ‘natural’ or ‘innate’ sense, but is the result of linguistic and technical systems built on the basis of the cultural context, social origins, and learning conditions.” Chapter 14 by Pasanisi deals with the issue of migration in the work of Lina Prosa. The participation of migrants as actors in theatrical projects or workshops renews the power of the theatre thanks to its veracity, rather than being limited to representative forms of migratory stories: “The community dimension of a theatre allows Prosa to rediscover its symbolic dimension, all through her writing which stimulates a constant process of inclusion and collective reflection”, where once again “the biographical testimonies become an instrument of social involvement and an opportunity to overcome marginality.” In Chapter 15, Tamborrino also develops a “theme which cuts across theatrical spaces in their symbolic, collective and institutional value, taking the case of the Lavanderia a Vapore in the Turin area as an example. An institution with a complex history and which, since 2018, has become a Centre for Dance Residencies, a unique reality in Piedmont.” In Chapter 16, Guerinoni explores the theme of marginality through the “the role of the media, performing arts and culture in the management of migratory phenomena and in the integration of foreign citizens into the Italian social fabric, with specific attention to the Metropolitan City of Milan.” The volume closes with the chapter by Daniela Salinas Frigerio in which the author offers a testimony of the setbacks and disorientation of the live arts during the period of the Covid-​19 pandemic, which forced artists “to look for strategies and carry out actions that would help us to continue creating, to continue acting, to continue staging plays under the uncertainty given by the health context as well as the strong onslaught of the digital world, one of these actions being the creation of a project entitled “Festival Ensambles. New scenic tendencies of remote language and aesthetics in quarantine””. All that remains is to wish good luck to this multi-​voiced project, which recovers the profound meaning of performativity as a conscious social interaction brimming with meanings.

Acknowledgements A special thanks goes to all the staff and director of the Teatro Stabile of Bolzano for helping me tirelessly for the success of the conference “Theatre and public space” that took place in Bolzano on September 9–​11th, 2021, of which this book is the result. The conference has been, indeed, the final phase of the research project “The role and social impact of theatre in a globalized society. The case of the Teatro Stabile di Bolzano” I carried out as Principal Investigator with the funds crc granted by the Free University of Bolzano-​Bozen.

Figures and Tables Figures 1.1  I go to theatre with … 10 1.2  I talk about the show I’ve seen with … 10 1.3  Do my closest friends go to the theatre? 11 1.4  Have you personally ever practised theatre or taken part in the theatre workshops? 11 1.5  Can theatre play an active role in changing society? 12 1.6  Can going to the theatre have an effect on social cohesion? 12 6.1  Scenes from Due passi sono (https://carullominasi.wordpress.com/ due_passi_sono/) 86 6.2  Scenes from T/Empio - Critica della ragion pura (https://carullominasi. wordpress.com/tempio/) 87 6.3  Scenes from Conferenza Tragicheffimera - sui concetti ingannevoli dell’arte (https://carullominasi.wordpress.com/conferenza-tragicheffimera/) 88 6.4  Scenes from Delirio bizzarro (https://carullominasi.wordpress.com/ delirio-bizzarro/) 89 6.5  The Delivery Theatre “menu” (https://carullominasi.wordpress.com/ delivery-theatre-carullominasi/) 91 6.6  The Delivery Theatre presentation image (https://carullominasi.wordpress.com/ delivery-theatre-carullominasi/) 92 6.7  Scenes from Delivery Theatre during covid time (photos courtesy of Gianmarco Vetrano Photographer) 94 6.8  Scenes from Delivery Theatre during covid time (photos courtesy of Gianmarco Vetrano Photographer) 94 6.9  Scenes from Delivery Theatre during covid time (photos courtesy of Gianmarco Vetrano Photographer) 95 6.10  Scenes from Delivery Theatre during covid time (photos courtesy of Gianmarco Vetrano Photographer) 95 6.11  Scenes from Delivery Theatre during covid time (photos courtesy of Gianmarco Vetrano Photographer) 96 13.1  Green Light of Mateja Bucar (photocredit Sasa Hess) 167 13.2  Green Light of Mateja Bucar (photocredit Nada Zgank) 167 13.3  Bolzano Danza Festival 2020 –​(photocredit Andrea Macchia) 174 13.4  Bolzano Danza Festival 2020 –​(photocredit Andrea Macchia) 175 13.5  Azioni Fuori Posto –​Perspectiva (photocredit Federico Gazza) 176 15.1  A class involved in a Media Dance project –​photo by Fabio Melotti 195

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15.2  Social dreaming practice during a Dance Well class –​photo by Fabio Melotti 198 15.3  Workspace Ricerca x at Lavanderia a Vapore –​photo by Andrea Macchia 200 17.1  Official graph 220 17.2  Image of Ti Leufü Ñi Yeniel Ponwi Mew /​El Río Que Llevo Adentro 221

Tables 4.1  Summary sheet 48 4.2  Example of transcription with an indication of the minutes of conversation 49 4.3  Themes covered in the interviews 50 4.4  The interviewees regarding the tsb story 52 4.5  Tendency to evade questions in written interviews 58

Notes on Contributors Claudio Bernardi was formerly a Professor of Performing Arts at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the Catholic University at the Brescia campus. An active member of the cit (“Mario Apollonio” Centre of Theatrical Research and Projects) at the Catholic University of Milan. He has expounded his theory of social and community theatre in: Il teatro sociale: L’arte tra disagio e cura (2004); Eros. Sull’antropologia della rappresentazione (2015). Co-​editor of many publications on social theatre among which: War Theatres and Actions for Peace: Community-​ Based Dramaturgy and the Conflict Scene (2002, with Dragone M. and Schininà G.); Performing the Social: Education, Care and Social Inclusion through Theatre (2021, with Innocenti Malini G.). Marco Bernardi born in Trento in 1955, is a theatre director and manager. From 1980 to 2015, he directed the Teatro Stabile of Bolzano. He has designed and created 65 theatrical productions in Italy, Germany, Austria, France, the USA, and South Korea. In conjunction with Maurizio Scaparro he directed the festival at the Venice Biennale on the rebirth of Carnival, and ran the theatrical seasons of the Santa Chiara Cultural Services Centre in Trento from 2015 to 2019. He was co-​founder and president of platea, the body representing all the Teatri Stabili in Italy. Since 2018, he has been a member of the Advisory Commission for Theatre of the Italian Ministry of Culture. Massimo Bertoldi a teacher and an author of essays and books on Renaissance and contemporary theatre, the Teatro Stabile and Teatro Verdi of Bolzano. He is a theatre critic for the newspaper “Alto Adige”, as well as national magazines (“Hystrio”, www.dramm​atur​gia.it). He is editor of the magazine “Il Cristallo. Rassegna di varia umanità” and is a board member of the South Tyrolean Culture Centre –​ the Centro di Cultura dell’Alto Adige. Martina Guerinoni holds a PhD in “Humanities. Tradition and contemporaneity” from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. She has been collaborating for several years with the cit research centre (“Mario Apollonio” Centre of Theatrical Research and Projects) (Catholic University). Her research interests include social theatre in multicultural contexts, and contemporary theatre and performance.

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Mara Nerbano took her PhD in Performing Arts at the University of Bologna and is a tenured professor of History of Theatre at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara. Her research interests focus mainly on three areas: medieval theatre and drama; theatrical pedagogy; contemporary experimental theatre. She is the author of two monographs and around forty papers. On Fabrizio Crisafulli’s theatre she has already published: Luogo, ascolto, relazione. La ricerca teatrale di Fabrizio Crisafulli (2020) and I “cinque luoghi” del teatro. Conversazione con Fabrizio Crisafulli (2021). Chiara Pasanisi took her PhD in Performing Arts at the Sapienza University of Rome. The title of her PhD thesis was “The resistance of the Italian tradition. Acting, repertoire and stage direction in Miranda Campa, Ave Ninchi, Lilla Brignone and Sarah Ferrati (1935–​1960)”. She has published a volume entitled L’Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica 1935–​1941 (Mimesis Edizioni, 2021). Benedetta Pratelli is currently a third-​year PhD student in History of Art and Performance at the University of Pisa. Her research focuses on the evolution of the Italian theatre festival phenomenon in the twentieth century. She graduated in 2017 with a thesis on the Italian theatre festival VolterraTeatro (VolterraTeatro 1987–​2016. Storia di un festival e della sua evoluzione). Roberto Prestigiacomo is a theatre-​maker who directs plays, creates original performances, theatre for social change projects, and writes about performance. A native of Rome, Italy, Roberto is an Associate Professor at Trinity University, Texas, and the Performing Human Rights Initiative director. Ilaria Riccioni is a tenured researcher and qualified associate professor of General Sociology at the Free University of Bolzano-​Bozen. She holds a PhD in Theory and Social Research at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” on the Social impact of Avant-​garde art. She has been a visiting researcher in France, Austria, the USA, and Australia inquiring into social theory, sociology of culture and the avant-​ garde and is currently President of the Research Committee Sociology of the Arts at the International Sociological Association, isa. Among her recent publications: Riccioni I., Teatro e società: il caso dello Stabile di Bolzano (Carocci

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2020); Riccioni I., Futurism: Anticipating Postmodernism. A sociological Essay on Avant-​garde Art and Society, (Mimesis International 2019). Daniela Salinas Frigerio is an actress, mediator, and holds a Master in Cultural Management. She is part of the nucleus of the Master in Cultural Management and a junior researcher at the Nucleus of Cultural Policies, both at the University of Chile. Her work has focused on the formulation of cultural projects, the development of audiences, cultural policies and communications in culture. She is currently an active part of the University of Chile and independent projects, such as unesco, Minera Escondida, and mincap. Eleonora Sparano is a sociologist and methodologist, with a PhD in Social Policy and Local Development. She has been a Research Fellow (Rome “Tre”; Free University of Bolzano-​Bozen) and a lecturer in General Sociology (Viterbo). She currently teaches at the Niccolò Cusano University and at the Leonian Theological Institute in Anagni (“Teresianum” Pontifical Theological Faculty of Rome). Her publications include: Per una formazione alla Sociologia eclettica. Perché un glossario oggi? in: Cipriani R. and Memoli R. (eds.), La sociologia eclettica di Costantino Cipolla, Milan: FrancoAngeli, 627–​660, 2020. Linguaggio, linguaggi e narrazioni del Covid-​19. Primi risultati. In: Capogna S, Tra sociologia del linguaggio e società digitale, Rome: Eurilink University Press, Digital Communication Studies Series, 165–​194, 2021. Emanuele Stochino graduated in Social Psychology from the University of Padua in 1999. Having graduated, he qualified as a Psychologist, won a research scholarship, and began a three-​year period at irccs Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, in Brescia, Italy. Since finishing this collaboration, he has been working as a Contract Professor at the university of Brescia. For fifteen years, he has dedicated himself to the Sociology of Art. He has published widely both in Italy and abroad and participated at numerous international conferences on the subject. Matteo Tamborrino (Turin, 1992) is a PhD candidate in History of Art and Performing Arts at the Universities of Florence, Pisa and Siena, with a research project concerning Leo de Berardinis and Perla Peragallo. His major fields of interest are: Italian renaissance and contemporary theatre, Yiddish actors, and the relationship

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between language and performance. Since December 2019, he has been a member of the editorial board of “Mimesis Journal” (issn 2279–​7203). He currently collaborates with the press office of Piemonte dal Vivo, the webzine “Krapp’s Last Post” and the quarterly magazine “Hystrio”. He was an intern at the Teatro Stabile of Turin’s research centre in 2017. Tiziana Tesauro is a researcher at the Institute of Research on Population and Social Policy –​ cnr, with expertise in the sociology of welfare. Her interests have focused on narrative medicine and training processes and practices in the social and healthcare fields. She is Project Manager of the Trame Project. “Trame” is a method created for the professional training of those who take care of others through their work: doctors, nurses, social workers, educators and caregivers. Alessandro Tolomelli is an Associate Professor of General and Social Pedagogy. He has twenty-​five years’ experience in research and work with the Theatre of the Oppressed method. Other focuses of interest are empowerment theory applied to education, a community-​based approach to tackle early school leaving, and the epistemology of complexity. Katia Trifirò is a researcher in Performing Arts at the University of Messina. Her research interests include contemporary Italian dramaturgy, performance studies, and the relationship between theatre, literature, and cinema. She is part of the management committee of “Mantichora”, the Italian Journal of Performance Studies, edited by the International Centre of Performing Arts “UniversiTeatrali”. She has published some works on Beniamino Joppolo (Le Lettere, 2012) and Juan Rodolfo Wilcock (Edizioni Sinestesie, 2019). Among her recent books: on Anna Magnani’s theatrical work “La Lupa sono io”. Anna Magnani a teatro tra Verga e Zeffirelli, A&B, 2021; Scene di carta. Intellettuali e critica teatrale nell’Italia degli anni Sessanta, Cue Press, 2021. Andrea Zardi (1987) graduated from the University of Milan, and in Cinema and Media at the University of Turin, where he is pursuing his PhD. He has been an archivist of the Teatro Stabile of Turin’s research centre, and in 2017 he joined as a researcher the prin 2015 –​“Performing the social: Education, Care and Social Inclusion through Theatre”. His research focuses on the interdisciplinarity between neuroscientific studies and new languages of dance, as well as

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research in the field of Cultural Studies. He collaborates with several theatrical realities and institutions, and is the artistic director of the za | DanceWorks project.

­c hapter 1

The Impact of Theatre in a Multilingual Province

The Case of the Teatro Stabile of Bolzano between New and Old Generations Ilaria Riccioni 1.1

The Specific Nature of the Territory: From Multilingualism to Multiculturalism

In its empirical form, social research is always embedded in and bound to a specific place, a certain type of social system, its peculiar folkways and mores, as well as its language; in other words, a particular form of culture. Recently, the definition of culture has seen a complete change in meaning, starting with the critique of the Frankfurt School, up to the recent implications of this concept in new digital systems of control and communication. Notwithstanding, a certain concept of culture is still infrequently debated in terms of its consequences on social cohesion, belonging, and new forms of citizenship which are typical of today’s interconnected contemporary world. Furthermore, a coexistence of diverse cultures within the same space, community, or social system is deemed ‘multiculturalism’, even though there are several types of multiculturalism (Riccioni, 2016). The first type implies a form of coexistence due to immigration, the second implies a type of coexistence inherent to frontier territories. Such situations, whatever the origin of the multiculturalism may be, embody the debate on and experience of a multiple diversity among institutions and spaces, in other words, processes which involve values, beliefs and identities in a reciprocal understanding and/​or tolerance within a given context. Accordingly, cultural institutions within a multicultural ‘society’, or community, are crucial centres for the equilibrium and capacity of either resilience or coexistence of citizenship. The process of exchange, recognition and cohabitation of multiculturality within the same context has been debated for a couple of decades and has fired much of the political, philosophical and sociological debate in recent years, especially in those countries historically held together by a sense of sameness rather than diversity. Historically speaking, for the most part in European countries there has long been the issue of recognizing minorities in such places as South Tyrol in Northern Italy or Catalonia in Spain, which are commonly known and much discussed.

© Ilaria Riccioni, 2023 | DOI:10.1163/9789004526174_002

2 Riccioni From a sociological perspective, some of the most relevant issues of multiculturalism are those that look into multicultural theories, multicultural policies, and the impact of multiculturalism on social structure and social change. This paper is going to focus on empirical research into a cultural institution, the Theatre of Bolzano (hereinafter tsb), which is the city’s main cultural institution, as well as coordinating all performance activities in South Tyrol, and is a form of theatrical organization of public service (an institution) which, although autonomous, is tasked with building a strong commitment to local culture. Therefore, we could argue that in the tsb’s mission as a public institution, there is already a strong social commitment by law. However, the sociological question at the basis of this empirical research stretches back to the very roots of theatrical production: under what conditions does the theatre perform its social function today? What is the social function of theatre in contemporary society? How has it changed, if indeed it has changed? The social role and function of theatre are not given to society once and for all, but emerge from the interaction it has with the community and with such external variables as the political, social, economic, and cultural contexts. And based on the dramaturgic choices and languages used. This interrelation becomes even more crucial and complex, if such a thing is possible, in a context of multilingualism and multiculturalism, where the same institution is involved in a delicate work of creating a potential meeting ground between diverse cultures. From a sociological standpoint, other fundamental implications concern the popularity of a certain artistic medium over others in its own time (Becker, 1974, 1982; Heinich, 1998 and 2001; Riccioni, 2003–​2019, 2017; Tessarolo, 2009). Which audience is tapped into through painting or music and, in this specific case, through theatre? Each particular audience is linked to its age, its level of understanding and habit of enjoying art, therefore, to the cultural and social capital of the context but also, in the case of Bolzano, to the varieties of language used, the symbolic universes it evokes as something rooted in a system of roles, but also to symbolic universes spanning the diverse cultures. And it is here in this specific aspect that the globalization process can become key to overcoming the barriers which traditionally form this territory’s heritage to open up to collective meanings on a globalized level that can make theatre a form of culture which also speaks to the young throughout the territory, open-​minded and eager as they are for a cultural leap which connects the local to the global, overcoming the diatribes between national affiliations and local linguistic minorities via an (ostensibly) planetary culture. When it comes to music, this is intimately tied up with the world of youth, given that its very code is (arguably) one with a very narrow series of limits

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compared to the other arts. In point of fact, a lot of youth music, regardless of its language of birth, is expressed in English, a vehicle for expansion that overcomes linguistic misunderstandings and opens up to a wider, less differentiated audience (Riccioni and Somigli, 2015). What is the sociological meaning for which, in a given historical period, society comes to be reflected in one artistic expression rather than in another? All the arts are present in every era. That said, one tends to lead the way over the others, or guides and reflects the spirit of the era with greater understanding. According to Baudrillard, in an era of images, art tends to disappear (Baudrillard 1976, 1984), especially visual art, and there is a strong presence of performances, urban installations, a kind of art that becomes a presence in public spaces, which leans towards everyday life in its occupation and use of urban spaces. A kind of art that wants to blend with the everyday, which seeks a dialogue with the present by venturing beyond the spaces of institutional places. In this sense, Performance Art is one of the most powerful tools, one which combines a physical presence with the need for meta-​individual expression through cultural and political symbolic universes (Riccioni and Halley, 2021). In the case of the tsb, we are in the presence of a public and national cultural institution (Vv. Aa. 1984, 2015) in a territory of coexistence between linguistic minorities, with the specific characteristic that the linguistic minority in terms of the national context, a German dialect, marks out the majority of the population in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, while the minorities in the territory are actually the Ladin culture and language together with the Italian culture and language, the latter constituting the majority in the national territory. The first municipal theatre in Italy was established in Milan on May 14, 1947, namely, the Piccolo Teatro of Milan, founded by a very young Giorgio Strehler, Paolo Grassi, and Nina Vinchi with the definition, which would remain characteristic of teatro stabile as they are called in Italian –​of the ‘theatre of art for everyone’.1 The second Italian municipal theatre was the Teatro Stabile of Bolzano (tsb), founded in November 1950 in Bolzano, with the function of holding together and giving a cultural reference to the local minority Italian community. Two theatres with two missions strongly linked to their local citizens, one to the needs of the national and civil reality, the other linked to the needs of the territory’s ‘resistance’. The institutional objectives of a teatro stabile are the production and support of the national theatrical art, the dissemination of traditional theatrical culture and innovation in local, national and international contexts. Another policy of the teatro stabile entails the support and production of research and 1 On the difference between the Italian Teatro Stabile and English repertory theatre see the Introduction in Volume 1.

4 Riccioni experimentation in the field of theatrical languages​and techniques while ensuring that the companies remain high quality. 1.2

The Research

The city of Bolzano, the place where the tsb is physically located, is, in demographic terms, still a fairly small reality, since its population stands at 107,866 residents according to astat data from April 2020. In fact, 56.1% of the South Tyrolean population (533,439 units) live in rural municipalities, which means around 10,000 inhabitants per municipality. However, the city of Bolzano has a different trend compared to the smaller towns of the province, in that there is a negative natural balance, while in the rest of the province the same indicator is decreasing but not negative, and although even in Bolzano births are still higher than the national average, there is a high mortality rate due to the ageing of the population, which does not manage to make the natural balance positive. Therefore, the positive demographic growth data in the city of Bolzano is essentially due to immigrant units, to a positive migratory balance, therefore. To form an idea of the population which the Bolzano theatrical institution is faced with, it can be said that it is predominantly urban given a large number of subjects in mature adulthood living in Bolzano, while a majority of younger population is living in its province. Some of these data would prove useful in interpreting the questionnaires distributed, however, we must consider that, due to the presence of its university, Bolzano also has a high concentration of students who are not necessarily resident, therefore young people who make use of the city’s facilities, and therefore potentially also the theatre, which rather upends the idea of Bolzano’s fabric that one might glean from the official demographic data, namely, a reality which in practice is less old than is evidenced by the statistical composition of the actually resident population. A mixed-​method data collection strategy was used, and 105 anonymous biographical interviews were collected, of which 100 were with citizens and 5 were with key witnesses within the institution. For the quantitative part, 215 completed questionnaires were returned. 1.3

Analysis

Analysis of the data collected substantially confirmed some of the theoretical reflections developed in the initial chapters of this volume while adding and

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defining others, some with a specific focus on the case of the Teatro Stabile of Bolzano, others referring to theatre in general in its relationship with the current social situation. From a sociological perspective, investigating the concept of theatre starting from its institutional meaning indicates two fundamental and essential aspects:







1) The social functionality of the institution itself and its ability to respond to collective needs; 2) Analysing what new needs emerged from the needs and expectations of citizens with respect to this institution; in other words, in which direction a process of reflection on the institution iteself can be potentially initiated in order to gear it to new emerging community needs. –​ The categories which emerged from analyses of the qualitative research are partly in consonance, and therefore validate the theoretical apparatus of the starting hypotheses, while others have instead shown an ongoing process of apparent democratization which, for the local culture, assumes different connotations from those implemented by the politics –​for example. If in politics there is a sort of collective disorientation, exasperated and denounced by its very manner of communication which tends to undermine its own credibility, when it comes to the relationship with culture this appears to be inverse. –​ If for political parties, communication with the territory from the digital platforms of social networks is a source of loss of awareness and knowledge of the real needs of the country which one would like to govern, for theatrical culture this shift cannot be given by the very nature of this institution whose expressive form lies in the body. –​ In interpreting the qualitative research data, we observed a dynamic behaviour with respect to the tsb’s offering and one that was strongly reactive to changes in this offering. It can be noted, in fact, that the very diversification in the tsb’s type of offering is highly appreciated by the citizens of Bolzano. The differentiation of languages and the various levels of the proposals on the programme extend participation to distinct types of audiences, but also allow spectators to witness different forms of theatrical concepts.

The research hypothesis is that theatre has the potential for relational and social activation through its specific form of collective experience and starting from its specific languages, even more so today in the planetary society;

6 Riccioni Consequently, also the ability to create a ‘terrain’ suitable for an informed discussion around collective problems (construction of the public sphere); Transformation of institutions into places to ‘build’ citizenship. As already previously mentioned, demographic data show that: 107,866 residents of Bolzano according to astat data of April 2020. Of the South Tyrolean population, 56.1% (533,439 units) live in rural municipalities, which translates to around 10,000 inhabitants per municipality. The city’s population includes a high number of subjects in mature adult age, while the population distributed over the province is younger. n.b. It must be taken into account that Bolzano, thanks to the presence of the university, also has a high student population who are not necessarily resident; therefore, young people who use the city’s amenities, and therefore potentially also the theatre, but who modify the official demographic data, with the result that the population is essentially less elderly than that shown by the statistical data. 1.4

Methodology

In order to serve the double need to grasp both the frame and the understanding of the role of this institution within the context of South Tyrol, a mixedmethod collection strategy was used: 105 anonymous biographical interviews were collected, of which 100 were with citizens and 5 were with key witnesses within the institution. Of the 100 interviews with citizens, 95 were carried out in the form of face-​to face interviews with audio recording, and the remaining 5 were collected via e-​mail due to the sudden restrictions imposed by the Covid-​19 emergency. For the quantitative part, semi-​structured questionnaires have been delivered of which 215 returned completed and have been analyzed. In the interpretation of the overall research data, a dynamic behaviour of the spectators was observed with respect to the offering of the tsb, and it has been noticed that they were also strongly reactive to changes in its cultural proposals. South Tyrolean society ‘demands’ that the public role of the theatre as an institution means ‘cultural promotion’ and ‘cultural education’, which can be observed from the ambivalent relationality of the spectators: between the occasional discomfort of not feeling up to too many learned or avant-​garde events, coupled with an awareness that culture also has the function of pushing one’s knowledge to new worlds about which one was unaware. It is the very desire for participation that requires openness to the most popular themes and languages, plays which are understandable to the general

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public in order to socialize culture and mitigate the feeling of inadequacy that still subsists towards the theatre as an institution. Both the qualitative and quantitative data showed a consensus among citizens that the theatre is in general a fundamental institution. The results affirmed the collective feeling that the theatre as an institution is an essential public space, whatever trend it follows, and whether more elitist or more popular it can be. Finally, it is seen to favour urban forms of aggregation and the formation of public opinion, it is certainly a meeting space, a place of identity, and one of the few spaces left for collective reflection and growth in modern cities. 1.5 1)





Emerged Categories The first category of analysis that emerged from the qualitative interviews consists in the origin of theatre attendance in relation to values, which is subdivided into 4 types: 1.a) The first type expresses a continuity of values: one goes to the theatre because one always has done, and it is a personal way of participating in culture; because going to the theatre is connected to significant parts of one’s life or even represents a continuity of values​with the family of origin. 1.b) Learning a direct approach to theatre through the family or thanks to friends or acquaintances initiates individuals into a more or less recreational practice; proximity to a dimension of socialization and deepening of values. 1.c) Approaching the theatre through school plays or parish groups, therefore the discovery of a practice through a training or religious institution. 1.d) Need for discontinuity from the value dimension to which one is socialized. Going to the theatre becomes a break in values, a break in continuity, therefore a means for individual emancipation. The need or requirement to achieve a clear separation from the family through cultural emancipation, or through a challenge that finds critical space for realization in the theatre.

1.5.1 Performance and Social Engagement The interviews substantially confirmed a recurring juxtaposition between participation in theatre and culture and the activity of civic engagement or active participation in citizenship in various forms (social volunteering, but also participation in trade unions, non-​profit organizations, etc.).

8 Riccioni The data collected, albeit limited and therefore related to a case study not yet generalizable on a national basis, showed an interesting and recurring combination between subjects involved in social commitment and theatre spectators. In other words, it seems that the predisposition or interest in social participation as a process of approaching the other and enhancing one’s own experience is also accompanied by cultural participation as an active subject oriented to the appreciation of live dynamic arts, specifically of theatrical research, which is towards a type of cultural manifestation or fruition that involves an individual, stimulating his or her creativity, both as action and reflection. 1.5.2 Other Elements Which Emerged from the Interviews Other elements emerged in most of the answers are: a search for immediacy, an element analysed in terms of the ‘search for truth’ of live performances. Theatre as a form of democratic art which urges us to look outside the box. Social cohesion, inclusion, belonging, desire for a comparison between diversities, as well as an idea of reclaiming social spaces for the community. Theatre as a source of social wellbeing and enrichment of existence. Additionally, theatre is experienced as an opportunity for relationships, encounters and exchanges, but also for a dynamic of being that cannot be deepened since it thrives on appearance, representation and roles played according to the observation of the other. The city and its double. This macro-​category shows the two-​fold nature of the relationship to the other: on the one hand, a search for the other as an invitation to the relationship and rediscovery of oneself; but also a gaze which sees only itself in the other, the ephemeral affirmation of a ceremonial without depth. However, the ceremonial is in itself the conventional form of communal living which is consolidated in it. Thus, two types of sociality emerge that are brought into play in attending a city event such as an evening at the theatre, which also emerge clearly in the ideal distribution of a hierarchy of evenings. Those who attend a première, those who go to a matinée, and so forth. 1.6

Analysis of the Questionnaires

From the astat data, in the 2019 surveys on “Culture and continuing education: participation and opinions of South Tyroleans” it can be observed that the highest figure in cultural satisfaction is those 48% of citizens who tend to choose theatre as a form to enjoy culture, while attendance of the cinema stands at 41%, followed by non-​classical music concerts at 38%, and classical music concerts at 17%.

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In addition, 215 questionnaires were administered to the audience at the open rehearsals of the series “Wordbox –​Words for the Theatre” of the 2019–​20 season of the tsb. The reasons for having chosen this very season for distributing questionnaires are due to the peculiarities of the audience population with regard to Wordbox evenings, on the one hand as it implies two types of criteria: 1) operational; 2) for the specific nature of the series. On the other hand, the audience attending is somehow selected in terms of interest and engagement, as this series has characteristics which differ from classical drama: 1) in terms of length (lasting about one hour) starting at 6.30 p.m. 2) it is not a polished form, being essentially an open rehearsal; 3) it is participatory. 1.6.1 Some Data Over 40% of the respondents were aged between 45 and 64 years. 24.3% belonged to the 25–​44 age group and then there was a balance between children under 24 and spectators aged 65 and over at 16%. 1.6.2 Types of Interviewee Most (43.3%) of the interviewees were in intellectual, scientific, or highly specialized professions, while another 26% were retired or students. Considering this data together with the qualifications possessed by the respondents, it can be stated that those who attend the theatre in the form of Wordbox and related activities are above all people of a very high cultural level and social status. Almost one third go to the theatre only when there is a show that interests them, while another third are more assiduous, attending around twice a month. There appears to be no difference in age-​related responses, apart from a small prevalence of “Definitely” for the 45–​64 age group compared to the answer, “More Yes than No”. Results show that 61% of respondents prefer to go to the theater with friends, with whom they probably share interests and passions and, in a lower percentage (52%), with their partner. A high percentage (29%) goes to the theater alone. There are few (19%) who go to the theater in the company of parents or children. Sign that could be interpreted with a fruition linked to a form of sharing detached from the affective dimensions, but rather linked to a vision of the world and self-determination. Below are the graphs of the answers given to some of the questions in the distributed questionnaires.

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80.0 70.0 60.0 50.0 40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0

With friends

With my partner

With my parents or my children