Physical, visual, sensual, Stranger is a form of thinking/dreaming-caught-in-the-act. A play, an installation, an interactive performance where a-cappella singing and live music will take the audience through muddy roads, dark corridors, real or reflected rooms; where ordinary or strange beings will make their raucous or sweet voices be heard. The audience will enter their world and not simply watch it from their seats. They will feel their breath, touch their faces, witness their courage.
The first definition of Stranger is a person that you do not know. But it doesn’t stop there.
Who is the stranger?
Is it inside or outside us?
A series of mirrors reflect facets of who we are, who we might be, glimpses of ourselves in relation to others. Whose perception do they convey? Real or imaginary?
Whose story do the mirrors tell? Is it the story of One, Nobody, or Hundreds? Do we recognize ourselves in that story?
Is Stranger a show, a movie, or? ... More?
I find genre fascinating and often I look at ways in which it can be subverted. Often peoplesay that my live shows are filmic, and my films are theatrical: all have a touch of magicrealism, where events follow their own strange logic, and nothing is quite what it seems.Innocence and the loss of it, play large roles in my work. First and foremost, I’m fascinated byhumanity – always – in all its beautiful and embarrassing facets. I like to pull the rug fromunder the performer’s feet and destabilise them to reveal a hidden crack in their soul.
What could people expect to see?
Sensual and innocent, violent and tender, light-hearted and serious, Stranger is a roller-coaster of emotions and weird occurrences. A feast for the eyes, sanguine, unpredictable, disarmingly honest, it will make people wonder whether what they see is what it seems.
To be truly sensual one needs to go deeper into oneself, accept the cracks, face the dark side.The show is populated by larger-than-life characters following their own bizarre stories.There is no protagonist, but all arrive from a small town. While evil may lurk in the city’s darkest corners, a single question may capture everyone's attention: "Who am I when I’m alone in the dark? I’d like Stranger to be sensual, light-hearted and funny, violent, tender, moving, sexy, gritty, honest and daring. Magical yet totally real. A place where performers and spectators blend just like truth and fiction.
Firenza Guidi, Oct. 2024
