malacarne
the ballad of love and power
malacarne
the ballad of love and power
directed by Michele Modesto Casarin
dramaturgy Marco Gnaccolini
with Claudio Colombo, Filippo Fossa, Agata Garbuio, Chiara Pellegrin, Federico Scridel
production BRAT
in collaboration with Pantakin
with the support of Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia
An epic folk ballad that weaves together myth, history and legend.
In 1420, Friuli was overrun by the Venetians. The ancient Friulian Commedia dell’Arte character Malacarne guides the audience through a tale of the battle between two opposing forces: Love and Power. The story follows the search for the legendary treasure of Aquileia and the forbidden love between Bora and Tergesteo. Once an almost forgotten character, Malacarne becomes the bard of a land and a symbol of all those who, throughout History, have been forced to submit, resist or migrate.
Grounded in Friulian stories and legends, the show transcends its local setting, transforming a regional narrative into a universal tale of identity, freedom and belonging. Friuli Venezia Giulia becomes a symbolic place for all communities affected by History, where Power takes the form of war, exploitation and the loss of one’s roots.
On a small wooden stage dominated by a single gnarled tree, the actors perform without stage wings or a fourth wall. Masks, comedy, live music, languages and dialects come together to create visceral theatre that, between tradition and innovation, restores the original spirit of Commedia dell’Arte: using comedy and popular storytelling to speak about the present.
malacarne
origins of a mask
Who was Malacarne? To find out, we must go back to 1622, when the mask of a servant as prone to blunders as he was clever first appeared in the comedy I travagli d’amore by Marc’Antonio Gattinon, a notary from Latisana. Malacarne is an irrepressible braggart who can navigate any situation with cunning and vitality.
He is not just a comic supporting character, but a well-rounded and enterprising figure. The author entrusts him with a leading role, giving him a significant amount of dialogue and stage presence. The Friulian language had already appeared in earlier theatrical works, but through Malacarne it shows that it can carry a full theatrical function. It is no longer merely rustic speech or local colour; it becomes a sophisticated literary language capable of giving voice to a complex character and measuring itself against the other languages of the Commedia dell’Arte. For these reasons, I travagli d’amore is one of the most significant examples of early seventeenth-century Friulian theatre, representing a fundamental step in the history of Friulian as a stage language.
After centuries of silence, Malacarne, a mask born more than four hundred years ago, returns today as the protagonist, embodying the spirit of a land and its people. In our new script, set in the distant past yet capable of taking on the features of a contemporary story, Malacarne comes back to life, bringing to the stage the dynamics of power, the wounds of oppression and the resistance of those who still find themselves defending their freedom today.
director’s
notes
Whenever I work on a new Commedia dell’Arte production, I ask myself who, nowadays, is interested in mask theatre. Contemporary audiences are no longer as naive as those of the seventeenth century. They are used to cinema and television, and to the speed of the internet; they have the whole world at their fingertips. And yet, the answer is always the same:
An audience is made up of people, and people, whether adults or children, love stories. They love being told myths and legends, and they want to hear that evil will be punished and good will triumph. This has always been the case.
The Commedia dell’Arte meets many of an audience’s needs because it can educate, amaze, enchant, seduce and entertain. This is precisely what our Ballad of Love and Power aims to do: transcend time and, through the masks and characters of the Commedia dell’Arte, take the audience on a moving, poetic journey. To tell ancient stories once again, making them modern and fresh.
Michele Modesto Casarin
playwright’s
notes
MALACARNE – The Ballad of Love and Power is the precious fruit of a collective effort born of the desire and need to tell the story not only of a little-known character from popular theatre, but also of the endless clash between Power, the most corrosive force in the world, and Love, the force that has always stood against it.
So I ventured into writing a new script about the figure of Malacarne and his world, seen through the lens of historical novels and of origin stories that rewrite a character’s beginnings. While these stories are best known in comics and their film adaptations, they are rooted in the numerous retellings and in-depth explorations of the protagonists of Greek mythology.
A story steeped in history, legends and languages with archaic sounds. For an hour and a half, these languages come back to life, enchanting us as only music can, and holding us all in a place without time and without space, except for the immeasurable space of the mystery of human beings, alive and together.
Marco Gnaccolini
show’s
reviews
<< A marvellous and highly refined production. It is part of the Commedia dell’Arte tradition, playing with its distinctive features while still managing to go deep. It can be understood and appreciated on several levels, with an incredible richness of language moving easily between Italian and various dialects. You can sense a deep knowledge of history, folklore and mythology, including Venice’s central role in the history of the Venetian Republic and its territories, such as Friuli and Istria itself. >>
Gian Luca Borghese – Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Zagreb
<< […] It was a plunge into the soul of Friuli: a spectacular yet intimate ode that spoke with lightness and depth of our contradictions, our need for rights and the strength of the heart and laughter. […] Nothing was left to chance. The drawing of a sword, a clumsy step, a slap, a sudden storm: everything was created live by the actors on stage, with mastery and a poetry of sound. […] The story spoke of us, of our fears, our compromises and our deep need for humanity. Malacarne made us laugh, moved us and made us reflect; as well as playing his part, he took on the role of narrator, guiding the audience between reality and legend, and between smiles and emotion. […] The finale left the audience suspended in a sorrowful silence, enveloped by the weight of a tragedy in which the fairy tale became legend. […] Theatre thus returns to being what it has always been: a space in which we can recognise ourselves, listen and feel. It is an open invitation to everyone to discover stories that belong to us all, even when they are told in different accents. Because, after all, there is only one language of the heart. >>
Erika Barnaba – La Voce del popolo
<< BRAT develops its own relationship with masks and tradition, seeking to move beyond some of the stereotypes that have become established around the so-called ‘classical’ Commedia dell’Arte […]. The play unfolds with rhythm and precision. Particular attention is paid to choreographic movement and the timing of the dialogue, including the physical interplay between the characters. Like many other regions of Italy, Friuli Venezia Giulia has a complex history of conquests and wars where an Austrian and Central European heritage meets and clashes with the legacy of the Venetian Republic. Beneath the game of power, as always, lie the common folk of legends, witches and the countryside; there is Malacarne, a good and devoted servant, a wandering storyteller […]. No longer Friuli, but the whole world on the boards of this small stage, in a tribute to the original purpose of the Commedia dell’Arte: to speak about the present through the powerful medium of fairy tale and comedy. Yet this abstraction does not give up sharp references, made fierce by the irreverence of the mask, which offers no consolation and makes no concessions, but wounds as only true comedy can. >>
Angela Forti – La Falena, Teatro Metastasio
<< We imagine popular theatre and the Commedia dell’Arte as a form of street art performed on stage: bold colours, clear-cut shades, breakneck pacing and sudden changes. Masks and folklore travel like a clattering train, coast to coast, towards a summer sunset. The Commedia dell’Arte is visceral, sweaty and generous, and BRAT is a young company that has spent years pursuing an artistic vision aimed at creating a fusion of tradition and innovation. In this show, Malacarne, in fact the only Friulian mask in the Harlequin family, takes the stage in a riot of languages, dialects, sounds, noises and songs. It is a colourful plunge into the stories and ballads of the Friuli region, which intertwine with the tale of love and power experienced and endured by the unfortunate Malacarne. Here, he becomes a contemporary figure representing the unprotected worker, someone willing to do anything to avoid having to migrate. This artistic endeavour is rooted in a love of that kind of theatre made of flesh, dust and laughter, in which the audience takes a journey through time, remaining anchored in their own bodies and feeling their blood pulse through their veins. >>
Artistic Direction – SpkTeatro
malacarne
origins of a mask
Who was Malacarne? To find out, we must go back to 1622, when the mask of a servant as prone to blunders as he was clever first appeared in the comedy I travagli d’amore by Marc’Antonio Gattinon, a notary from Latisana. Malacarne is an irrepressible braggart who can navigate any situation with cunning and vitality.
He is not just a comic supporting character, but a well-rounded and enterprising figure. The author entrusts him with a leading role, giving him a significant amount of dialogue and stage presence. The Friulian language had already appeared in earlier theatrical works, but through Malacarne it shows that it can carry a full theatrical function. It is no longer merely rustic speech or local colour; it becomes a sophisticated literary language capable of giving voice to a complex character and measuring itself against the other languages of the Commedia dell’Arte. For these reasons, I travagli d’amore is one of the most significant examples of early seventeenth-century Friulian theatre, representing a fundamental step in the history of Friulian as a stage language.
After centuries of silence, Malacarne, a mask born more than four hundred years ago, returns today as the protagonist, embodying the spirit of a land and its people. In our new script, set in the distant past yet capable of taking on the features of a contemporary story, Malacarne comes back to life, bringing to the stage the dynamics of power, the wounds of oppression and the resistance of those who still find themselves defending their freedom today.
director’s
notes
Whenever I work on a new Commedia dell’Arte production, I ask myself who, nowadays, is interested in mask theatre. Contemporary audiences are no longer as naive as those of the seventeenth century. They are used to cinema and television, and to the speed of the internet; they have the whole world at their fingertips. And yet, the answer is always the same:
An audience is made up of people, and people, whether adults or children, love stories. They love being told myths and legends, and they want to hear that evil will be punished and good will triumph. This has always been the case.
The Commedia dell’Arte meets many of an audience’s needs because it can educate, amaze, enchant, seduce and entertain. This is precisely what our Ballad of Love and Power aims to do: transcend time and, through the masks and characters of the Commedia dell’Arte, take the audience on a moving, poetic journey. To tell ancient stories once again, making them modern and fresh.
Michele Modesto Casarin
playwright’s
notes
MALACARNE – The Ballad of Love and Power is the precious fruit of a collective effort born of the desire and need to tell the story not only of a little-known character from popular theatre, but also of the endless clash between Power, the most corrosive force in the world, and Love, the force that has always stood against it.
So I ventured into writing a new script about the figure of Malacarne and his world, seen through the lens of historical novels and of origin stories that rewrite a character’s beginnings. While these stories are best known in comics and their film adaptations, they are rooted in the numerous retellings and in-depth explorations of the protagonists of Greek mythology.
A story steeped in history, legends and languages with archaic sounds. For an hour and a half, these languages come back to life, enchanting us as only music can, and holding us all in a place without time and without space, except for the immeasurable space of the mystery of human beings, alive and together.
Marco Gnaccolini
show’s
reviews
<< A marvellous and highly refined production. It is part of the Commedia dell’Arte tradition, playing with its distinctive features while still managing to go deep. It can be understood and appreciated on several levels, with an incredible richness of language moving easily between Italian and various dialects. You can sense a deep knowledge of history, folklore and mythology, including Venice’s central role in the history of the Venetian Republic and its territories, such as Friuli and Istria itself. >>
Gian Luca Borghese – Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Zagreb
<< […] It was a plunge into the soul of Friuli: a spectacular yet intimate ode that spoke with lightness and depth of our contradictions, our need for rights and the strength of the heart and laughter. […] Nothing was left to chance. The drawing of a sword, a clumsy step, a slap, a sudden storm: everything was created live by the actors on stage, with mastery and a poetry of sound. […] The story spoke of us, of our fears, our compromises and our deep need for humanity. Malacarne made us laugh, moved us and made us reflect; as well as playing his part, he took on the role of narrator, guiding the audience between reality and legend, and between smiles and emotion. […] The finale left the audience suspended in a sorrowful silence, enveloped by the weight of a tragedy in which the fairy tale became legend. […] Theatre thus returns to being what it has always been: a space in which we can recognise ourselves, listen and feel. It is an open invitation to everyone to discover stories that belong to us all, even when they are told in different accents. Because, after all, there is only one language of the heart. >>
Erika Barnaba – La Voce del popolo
<< BRAT develops its own relationship with masks and tradition, seeking to move beyond some of the stereotypes that have become established around the so-called ‘classical’ Commedia dell’Arte […]. The play unfolds with rhythm and precision. Particular attention is paid to choreographic movement and the timing of the dialogue, including the physical interplay between the characters. Like many other regions of Italy, Friuli Venezia Giulia has a complex history of conquests and wars where an Austrian and Central European heritage meets and clashes with the legacy of the Venetian Republic. Beneath the game of power, as always, lie the common folk of legends, witches and the countryside; there is Malacarne, a good and devoted servant, a wandering storyteller […]. No longer Friuli, but the whole world on the boards of this small stage, in a tribute to the original purpose of the Commedia dell’Arte: to speak about the present through the powerful medium of fairy tale and comedy. Yet this abstraction does not give up sharp references, made fierce by the irreverence of the mask, which offers no consolation and makes no concessions, but wounds as only true comedy can. >>
Angela Forti – La Falena, Teatro Metastasio
<< We imagine popular theatre and the Commedia dell’Arte as a form of street art performed on stage: bold colours, clear-cut shades, breakneck pacing and sudden changes. Masks and folklore travel like a clattering train, coast to coast, towards a summer sunset. The Commedia dell’Arte is visceral, sweaty and generous, and BRAT is a young company that has spent years pursuing an artistic vision aimed at creating a fusion of tradition and innovation. In this show, Malacarne, in fact the only Friulian mask in the Harlequin family, takes the stage in a riot of languages, dialects, sounds, noises and songs. It is a colourful plunge into the stories and ballads of the Friuli region, which intertwine with the tale of love and power experienced and endured by the unfortunate Malacarne. Here, he becomes a contemporary figure representing the unprotected worker, someone willing to do anything to avoid having to migrate. This artistic endeavour is rooted in a love of that kind of theatre made of flesh, dust and laughter, in which the audience takes a journey through time, remaining anchored in their own bodies and feeling their blood pulse through their veins. >>
Artistic Direction – SpkTeatro
