Written and directed by Ivana Di Salvo

with Ivana Di Salvo, Ursina Natalia Früh, Dominique Lüdi and Tassos Tataroglou

Choreography Ursina Natalia Früh

Music Tassos Tataroglou

Translation Luciana Valenza and Jacopo G. Nicoletti

Set Photography Luciano Perciaccante and Daniele Camminiti

Produced by Astragalo, Theater Palazzo

Supported by Abteilung Kultur Basel-Stadt,  Kanton Basel-Landschaft Bildungs-, Kultur- und Sportdirektion, Ernst göhner Stiftung, Migros Kultur Prozent (Basel und Zurich), Oertli Stiftung, BLKB- Jubiläumstiftung, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Schweizerische Interpretenstiftung |  In collaboration with Istituto di Cultura Italiana (Zurich) and Martina Langmann

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Teulada eagerly wishes a child. Sulcis works in an industry, in the middle of the countryside, among the olive trees. Isolated from the barbed wire that keeps her away from real life. After the shift with her hands stained with explosives, she goes to her flat, walking among ghost ruins of the mining archeology, in which she has no other escape than the creation of objects of death. Anna is a receptionist in a call center, with her headphones on her head she listens to the voices of the people.They are all part of the same family, a family where is strong the sense of eradication for who left, but also for who is staying.

These characters never existed, perhaps they exist. They are like cargo, containers of emotions, of potential lives and desires. Of commodified bodies. They clash, they approach each other, without ever really getting close. Nevertheless they keep each other company. The work on the characters (attention not the text itself!) will be inspired by ''Pedro Paramo'' by J. Rulfo in which the characters are a symbol of a coexistence of past and present, of illusion of encounters in eternal and circular time. A crossing throughout bodies and lives.

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The restlessness of the main characters, stimulated by the trumpet's evocative music is an attempt to break out of the conformism that binds them. They search for a meaning in their lives and in doing so to rediscover themselves. This search is both physical as well as profoundly intimate. In addition to family dynamics, it is a story of solitude, in search for the possibility of redemption.

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During the research process, Ivana Di Salvo investigated the Sulcis Iglesiente area in Sardinia and conducted interviews with citizens of this area.  Italy is still actively involved in the weapon trade, even with countries which are at war.  People see themselves forced to embrace the work in these industries there are few other job opportunities. This is not just happening in Sardinia, but all over Europe, even in countries where there could be other job opportunities.

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The text by Ivana Di Salvo, is written in Italian and German, two of Switzerland’s official languages. The character of Sulcis speaks Italian, while Teulada and Anna speak German, using only some words or sentences in Italian, as a reminiscence of their past. This aims to encourage a flexibility, offering different perspectives on the story, as well as deepen the empathy for the characters and their vicissitudes. The two languages are used also to investigate incommunicability, distance between people from the same family, and to offer a different perception to the audience: how difficult is to talk when you do not speak the language, how the gesture can change.

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Tassos Tataroglou for Deriva is composing sound diaries as an explorative self-portrait. The stile is minimal, the melody and phrasing measured, delicate but deep and penetrating, through the vocabulary of blue notes, microtones, polyrhythms and extended harmonies of jazz and the dissenting tones of the electronic music.

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Astragalo is a theatre company which was founded by Ivana Di Salvo in Basel in January 2018, suspended betwen Sicily, Greece and Basel...and in this project Sardinia as well!

The company works with artists from different fields such as theatre, dance and music to be able to research and establish a dramaturgy fusing the different art forms as well as explore how diverse cultural backgrounds influence the methods of creation.

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