1971
15 - 20 luglio
direzione artistica PIERO PATINO
The first Festival
When I accepted the artistic management of the Festival of S. Arcangelo I already had the general lines, at least in theoretical terms, ready to give to this enterprise.
I want to say that perhaps there was no reason to make a Festival and then try (as for any commercial product ) to make it different from others: on the contrary this Festival had to be made because the general lines for its organization pre-existed already.
The characteristic features of this event at S. Arcangelo existed a priori and are the real reason for it and not something attained a posteriori, like the polish on finished work.
It is the result of many components of which everyone is necessary.
Above all: for whom make the theatre, that is the choice of the public.
Secondly: the type of theatre to propose to the public; and this is, in practice, the qualifying element.
Finally, as a consequence: in what places act to make those theatrical contents reach the right public.
The public that interests me in particular, without discriminations of any kind, is the genuine public, the one that isn't definitively chloroformed by forms of cosmetic theatre, not used to traditional performances and therefore, as I hope, not time-serving.
The theatre has always reached the richer classes and very rarely the working-class masses. It is to this public, instead, that a new, modern theatre must address itself to thoroughly fulfil its cultural and social functions.
This is the public that interests me. Popular theatre, that is for the great mass. Such a theatre cannot have contents that are typical of the traditional theatre: because this one was and is an expression ( to say it in general ) of the privileged classes, the popular one must be a popular expression and therefore deal with no other problems than those of the people. In my modest opinion, the theatre should be a social, as well as an artistic event.
And therefore, the texts and the programmes to perform must have in their contents and in their language, the character of a social event.
Instead, completely new places, almost occasional, here and there where the people live and move in the streets, in the squares.
This is, in general, I repeat, the motive. And
Santarcangelo lends itself to this realization because of its geographical characteristics as a village of the Romagnole inland but still so near the sea as to receive the great tourist-stream that is typical of this zone, and because of its cultural and historical traditions and its evocative squares and quarters.
Yet, it turned out to be a very difficult enterprise for all of us to make in practice a true Festival of all that I have mentioned above.
In reality, I can't say that all the difficulties ha. been overcome or that all the problems have been resolved. This Festival, the first of others that will follow during the next summers, won't be free from faults: the certitude of this and the limits of a first experience is a proof of consciousness and an introduction to the correction and to the improvement for the future.
Every summer we will invite to Santarcangelo first-class companies and bands which are artistically qualified, from various parts of the world, as young elements with value in a prospect.
This will help me to realize one of the most important results: break the monopoly of a traditional theatre which has always passed through periods of crisis and now is in decomposition, made for people who approach to the theatre like to other consumer goods, as a refrigerator or a dishwasher, and restore in the theatre its cultural function for people who demand such a function.
Download the catalogue
direzione artistica PIERO PATINO
The first Festival
When I accepted the artistic management of the Festival of S. Arcangelo I already had the general lines, at least in theoretical terms, ready to give to this enterprise.
I want to say that perhaps there was no reason to make a Festival and then try (as for any commercial product ) to make it different from others: on the contrary this Festival had to be made because the general lines for its organization pre-existed already.
The characteristic features of this event at S. Arcangelo existed a priori and are the real reason for it and not something attained a posteriori, like the polish on finished work.
It is the result of many components of which everyone is necessary.
Above all: for whom make the theatre, that is the choice of the public.
Secondly: the type of theatre to propose to the public; and this is, in practice, the qualifying element.
Finally, as a consequence: in what places act to make those theatrical contents reach the right public.
The public that interests me in particular, without discriminations of any kind, is the genuine public, the one that isn't definitively chloroformed by forms of cosmetic theatre, not used to traditional performances and therefore, as I hope, not time-serving.
The theatre has always reached the richer classes and very rarely the working-class masses. It is to this public, instead, that a new, modern theatre must address itself to thoroughly fulfil its cultural and social functions.
This is the public that interests me. Popular theatre, that is for the great mass. Such a theatre cannot have contents that are typical of the traditional theatre: because this one was and is an expression ( to say it in general ) of the privileged classes, the popular one must be a popular expression and therefore deal with no other problems than those of the people. In my modest opinion, the theatre should be a social, as well as an artistic event.
And therefore, the texts and the programmes to perform must have in their contents and in their language, the character of a social event.
Instead, completely new places, almost occasional, here and there where the people live and move in the streets, in the squares.
This is, in general, I repeat, the motive. And
Santarcangelo lends itself to this realization because of its geographical characteristics as a village of the Romagnole inland but still so near the sea as to receive the great tourist-stream that is typical of this zone, and because of its cultural and historical traditions and its evocative squares and quarters.
Yet, it turned out to be a very difficult enterprise for all of us to make in practice a true Festival of all that I have mentioned above.
In reality, I can't say that all the difficulties ha. been overcome or that all the problems have been resolved. This Festival, the first of others that will follow during the next summers, won't be free from faults: the certitude of this and the limits of a first experience is a proof of consciousness and an introduction to the correction and to the improvement for the future.
Every summer we will invite to Santarcangelo first-class companies and bands which are artistically qualified, from various parts of the world, as young elements with value in a prospect.
This will help me to realize one of the most important results: break the monopoly of a traditional theatre which has always passed through periods of crisis and now is in decomposition, made for people who approach to the theatre like to other consumer goods, as a refrigerator or a dishwasher, and restore in the theatre its cultural function for people who demand such a function.
The Artistic Manager
PIERO PATINO
Download the catalogue
