In memory of
Eleonora Duse
Conceived, directed and performed by
Elena Bucci
Première 3rd
October 2015 at Theatre Center Na Strastnom in Moscow
International Festival of Monodrama
Performance 'Solo'
Lighting designer Maurizio Viani
Light board operator Loredana Oddone
Sound engineer Raffaele Bassetti
Assistant stage manager Gaetano Colella
Road manager
Nicoletta Fabbri
Le Belle Bandiere
Co-produced by Nuova Scena Saccisica
(Padua-IT)
Supported by Emilia-Romagna Region,
Province of Ravenna, Municipality of Russi
Eleonora Duse was born in 1858 and died
in 1924. She was an Italian actress, manager and director. Her
unconventional life and acting revolutionized the theatrical scene of
her time. She hated biographies, autobiographies and celebrations.
What remains is a certain amount of professional and personal
correspondence, and some indirect testimonials. I think she was a
great woman.
There comes a time
in one’s life when craft, technique and hard work prove to be
insufficient, and you ask yourself up to where they can take you, and
what stands beyond. That was my rumination when I realized
that I had been accompanied by Eleonora Duse’s ideas and views for
my whole theatre life.
I have been working on this performance
for several years, in which I was accompanied by intimate colleagues
and precious scholars: it changed with me, along the time and
locations, from an abandoned country palace near my birthplace, to
the places where Eleonora lived and acted.
Here she comes, just been refused by
Gabriele d’Annunzio for a role in La Figlia di Iorio, taking the
script and interpreting all the characters under Matilde Serao’s
insane and insistent eye. Performing on stage was
probably what helped Duse heal the wounds inflicted by life, free
herself and look beyond theatre with all its sets, costumes and
roles, everything she deeply loved and at the same time hated. She
may have dreamed of creating a place for theatre - as other arts
tried to do in that time - where it could get rid of bodies and
voices, free from the impending destruction of the hic and nunc of
live performance.
This work is based
on letters, notes and memories of those who surrounded her. I
chose them relying only on my inner feel, trying to understand
Eleonora better and to treat her with an utmost respect. It
goes without saying that when you try to speak of what you really
love, you speak about yourself as well. I wanted to avoid
clichés, stereotypes, false aesthetics to approach her courage and
absolute freedom.
While I was learning to understand
theatre, I discovered different sides of Eleonora’s personality,
from her mystery, turning her into a medium between the living and
the dead, to her comicality and political activity, all of which
unite in the whirlpool of her revolutionary energy.
Still, the profound lesson I drew, is
the unattainable nature of one’s essence, and the never-ending
story of all lives.