The Minotaur

Roberto Anglisani / Maria Maglietta
age: 10+

Years ago, I was struck by Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Minotaur. The writer enshrouds the Minotaur in a labyrinth of mirrors, but the multitude of his reflected images makes him feel even more alone. When Theseus arrives, the Minotaur is happy; he has finally found someone other than himself. However, when he approaches Theseus confidently, he is stabbed in the back.
In Jorge Luis Borges' short story Asterion, the Minotaur manages to escape the labyrinth and walk through the village. However, the villagers' reactions are so violent that the Minotaur returns to his prison, where he feels safe. The labyrinth was created to protect humans from the Minotaur and the Minotaur from humans.
The labyrinth is at the heart of our performance, with the theme of 'diversity' and the fears it generates at its core.
Gaetano Colella imagines an encounter between the Minotaur and a boyish Icarus. The two meet when Icarus accidentally throws a ball into the labyrinth. When Icarus goes in to retrieve it, he sees the 'Monster' that everyone is afraid of for the first time.
However, Icarus does not flee, and day after day he gets to know the Minotaur, listens to his stories, and becomes his friend. He even tries to defend the Minotaur from Theseus, who has come to kill him.
Roberto Anglisani

My artistic partnership with Roberto has lasted for over 30 years. Together, we have created a variety of narratives, sometimes transforming a literary text into pure oral storytelling and sometimes taking a simple fairy tale and turning it into a great tale.
This time, however, the experiment is new: we are starting with a text written in poetic form with rhyme. In this case, the creative journey of the storyteller must consider a score and a rhythmic pattern to be discovered and explored. Similarly to a musical score, the outcome depends on the musicians' performance.
My task is therefore to guide Roberto in finding his own performance and inner narrative rhythm, bringing the magic of the poetic form to life and taking the listener on a journey through both the story and the harmony in which it is inscribed.
Mirto Baliani's work with images and sound reinforces the narrative flow of the poem, creating sensitive suggestions and further visions.
Maria Maglietta