Thursday 3 July from 7.00 pm (meet at 6.45 pm | free admission | info and bookings: 3519137972) the guided tour will set off from the Castello Volante in Corigliano d’Otranto, following the invisible thread of water which, like music, crosses borders and connects people. Participants will discover how, over time, humankind has tackled and resolved water-related challenges in a region historically short of water, such as Puglia and Grecía Salentina. Starting with the evocative photographs from the Palumbo Archive and the ancient cisterns housed within the historic manor, the route will lead to the ‘basin’ of the Apulian Aqueduct, one of Europe’s largest above-ground water reservoirs, where participants will witness the workshop’s final presentation. Along the way, you’ll come across the ‘Pozzelle’ — veritable natural community pools — and reach a karst sinkhole, the ‘Laccu te lu Murica’, where the village children once used to play, ‘like circles in the water who don’t know how to swim’. At 8.00 pm, at the foot of the Upper Reservoir, there will be a public performance of the community theatre workshop, which has involved a diverse group of people of different ages, backgrounds and experience: ‘Breaking down barriers’ is the opening line of ‘Cerchi nell’acqua’, a song by the singer-songwriter Paolo Benvegnù, who passed away prematurely a few months ago, and which gives this year’s festival its title and meaning. ‘Breaking down distances’ is also a perfect summary of what theatre can achieve. Finally, ‘breaking down distances’ is also what water does: a liquid element that unites shores and crosses boundaries, in constant, tireless motion; it flows undeterred, without asking why. Participants were invited, through the playful and communal practices of theatre, to explore texts, physicality and movement, inspired by the theme of water and the lyrics of Benvegnù’s songs. In this way, small personal stories were given form and voice, ultimately building an emotional, sensory and relational map. Theatre thus served as a means of social communication and, at the same time, of individual expression and shared creation. ‘This final presentation does not aim for the completeness of a conventional theatrical production – a goal that would have taken away from the process of individual and collective exploration in favour of an apparent professional polish,’ emphasises Alessandra De Luca. “Instead, we felt it would be more interesting to conceive and structure it as a collection of travel notes, the raw exposition and juxtaposition of moments from an unfinished yet living process – as every authentically creative process must be. Not a performance, then, but rather the presentation of the ongoing journey of a diverse group of people of different ages and backgrounds.”
Events
2 July 25
h. 19:00 – Castello e Borgo Volante
