1983 : ENEIDE : 1.La tempesta 2.Approdo sulle coste della Libia 3.Il racconto di Enea 4.L’incontro d’amore 5.La battaglia 6.Il canto dei latini
ARTICLE DU NEW-YORK TIMES
STAGE : ’ENEIDE,’ VIRGIL VIA LASERS AT LA MAMA
By MEL GUSSOW Published : October 5, 1984
IF there is such a form as high-technology computer performance art, it is exemplified by Krypton’s ’’Eneide,’’ a laser sound-and-light show inspired by Virgil. Krypton, a company from Florence, is in residence through Sunday in La Mama Annex, as part of a festival of new Italian theater.
The text of the ’’Aeneid’’ has apparently been processed through a computer and converted into audio-visual imagery. The result is a ’’nuovo-spettacolare,’’ a melodic-sounding description for an event that entertains our eyes. At the same time, however, Krypton does not translate Virgil’s poetry into an acceptable artistic alternative.
Sitting in a theater, we face what appears to be an enlarged version of a computer screen. An outline of a ship begins to rock, then the image is replicated until there is a sea-tossed flotilla. The picture disappears and is replaced by a large rectangle of reddish hue, an equivalent of a Rothko painting whose momentary tranquility is interrupted by a pair of sea gulls flying through space.
The gulls are projected by laser beams and those beams - sharp spears of light shooting from the roof of the Annex - become a solar burst of energy. They pinpoint incidents - live and on film - skywrite and weave eerie patterns in the air, including one floating swirl that looks like a Brancusi sculpture. Finally, the lasers surround the audience in a cat’s cradle of light.
It is interesting that in this computerized environment one would be reminded of imagery from the world of fine art, and for that alone one must acknowledge Krypton’s effort. As conceived and directed by Giancarlo Cauteruccio, this is certainly an artistic use of technology, and it is also a serious attempt to link the classical with the contemporary.
While live performers garbed as ancient warriors strike martial tableaux, the background on the screen shifts back and forth between architectural antiquity and a futuristic skyline that seems created from graph paper - a stark city abandoned by its population in what could be considered a post-apocalyptical age.
Though there are only occasional spoken words (in Italian), threaded through the evening is an insistent electronic score (by Litfiba). Music, the piercing intensity of the lasers and the staged pictures unite in a performance that is best approached as a prelude to a dramatization of the ’’Aeneid’’ or as an experiment in the scenic uses of computer art.
Stormy Seas ENEIDE, conceived and directed by Giancarlo Cauteruccio ; original music by Litfiba. Krypton presented by La Mama, E. T. C. At the Annex, 66 East Fourth Street. WITH : Regina Martino, Francesco Torrini, Piero Pelù, Cecilia Ballotti, Rudy Farina, Paolo Mastroanni and Mauro Meneggazo.