INIZIATIVA NOVEMBER 27th, 2010

At the Manhattan theater, a "one-way" life

Between the tragic theater and the comic theater there are intermediate forms that merge the serious element with the farce, in the search for that truth that only "lived" life can give us. This Sasa Russo has this in mind, so much so as to make it a declaration of intent, as he himself explains: "we are tired of hearing fairy tales ... we want reality". Russo, in fact, with his latest work, A Senso Unzco, of which he is a director and author, catches the mark again by having fun and reflecting through a light, sagacious and intelligent text. And late evening. Barbara and Grazia are in a room of their small apartment, sitting at a "toilet" worthy of the most characteristic dressing rooms of a curtain-opening magazine. Among ostrich boas, hats, hats and lots of costume jewelery they start talking and remembering. They tell of when they were the queens of Burlesque, of their "particular" burlesque: a word that becomes an interlayer, no longer referred to a type of show but to a way of living and understanding existence. All that Barbara and Grace have done in life has been "burlesque". Between a small singing curtain and the other, the two protagonists talk about seduction and their status as sinners and, at the same time, victims; their sexual adventures become heroic deeds and, as smug collectors of male prey, they suddenly go on arguing over a man. But only for a moment: the truth, in fact, is that "the moon has only the other". Perhaps dissatisfied with their lives, perhaps in search of redemption, they look inside themselves, because we must not "get around and jump over obstacles, but understand things" as Barbara tells a Grace that looks at her puzzled. Two women, two lives, but one road "one way", or at least apparently. Work in two acts and with a sparkling text, sometimes exhilarating, rapid in the beats, which often results in a "question and answer" between the two protagonists, A Senso Unico "drops down like a good wine" which leaves it pleasantly euphoric. Russo uses the artist's eye to turn people into characters. Eleonora Micali and Sara Adami (Compagnia Teatrale Iposcenio) are very good, respectively Barbara and Grazia, who seduce the audience.

Perfect the musical accompaniment chosen by the director who, between the pop of Lady Gaga and refined jazz, surprises and amuses. On stage from 11 to 14 November at the Manhattan theater, in via del Boschetto 58; and again from 25 to 28 November at the Studio Uno Theater, via Carlo Della Rocca 6.