FIRE WAS THE CURE
Fairly inspired by Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451
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Around IL FUOCO ERA LA CURA |
“You don't need to burn books to destroy a culture. You just have to convince people to stop reading them”.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury describes a dystopian future in which reading is forbidden, constantly lit screens alienate people's free time, and the attempt to think causes physical discomfort. Ironically, the fire brigade is no longer employed to put out fires, but to burn books and, if necessary, their owners.
The book came out some 70 years ago, in 1953, but is set in the future, in the 1920s - today. You, however, are in the 21st century and you are reading this text, so is Bradbury wrong? It depends on how we understand dystopia: a prediction about the future that is at some point confirmed/denied or a warning about the present that keeps renewing itself?
Fire was the cure freely traverses and rereads Fahrenheit 451, consumes it as one does a beloved book, read a thousand times and dragged to a thousand places, dirties it, forgets it somewhere and then finds it again, as the cover fades, the paper peels and the pages fill with notes, cards, bookmarks and memories. Five performers retrace the history of the novel, identifying with the characters, moving horizontally, mapping the cones of shadow, the things Bradbury does not explain or tell us, creating parallel narrative lines, theoretical detours, also constructing the chronicles of an intermediate time between our present and a countercultural future in which stupidity saves us from the burden of complex thinking.
If Bradbury was only a few years wrong, if Fahrenheit 451 really happened, what would we do?
Playbill
Sotterraneo
FIRE WAS THE CURE
Freely inspired by Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
created by Sotterraneo
conceived and directed by Sara Bonaventura, Claudio Cirri and Daniele Villa
with Flavia Comi, Davide Fasano, Fabio Mascagni, Radu Murarasu and Cristiana Tramparulo
script Daniele Villa
lighting Marco Santambrogio
costumes Ettore Lombardi
sound Simone Arganini
choreography Giulio Santolini
props Eva Sgrò
technical director Massimiliano Fierli
company administrator Luisa Bosi and Rebecca Ihle
production Teatro Metastasio, Prato, Sotterraneo, Piccolo Teatro, Milan - Teatro d’Europa and Emilia Romagna Teatro ERT / Teatro Nazionale
with the support of Centrale Fies / Passo Nord
artistic residencies Tuscany Residency Centre (Armunia Castiglioncello Foundation – CapoTrave/Kilowatt Sansepolcro), La Corte Ospitale, Centrale Fies / Passo Nord
Sotterraneo is an Associate Artist at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, forms part of the Fies Factory project and is in residence at Teatri di Pistoia
Duration 1 hour and 30 minutes, no interval


















