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Pinocchio by Collodi

Performed by Elisabeth Zeindlinger. This is a research-based theatrical action, performed by a single actor, which follows Carlo Collodi’s “The Adventure of Pinocchio” in its complete version. The project was devised to fulfil an open-ended commission from the Teatro Talia (Tagliacozzo, L’Aquila, Italy) which produced the premiere in 2012. The production was supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

The research imperatives of this work are best thought of as two trajectories that ultimately intersect in practice.

The first trajectory relates to the re-enacting and revitalisation of Grotowski’s later experiments with the energies of the performer, exploring and mapping the passages from the so-called coarse level (the ‘everyday level’, that is, a dense organic level linked to the forces of life, to sensuality, to instincts), to a more subtle plane. This involves a personal exploration of different extra-quotidian body-mind states on the part of the performer, experienced in a laboratory setting, in search of what Grotowski called an ‘inner action’.

The second trajectory lies in the dramaturgical design of the performance in relation to the text and the research methodology, adapting a classic children’s tale to a personal journey – or ‘mystery’, according to Grotowskian terminology.

With this performance, director Campo concluded a cycle of practice-based research works focused on inner exploration and undertaken through dramaturgical experimentation linked with a form of acting work based on Grotowskian ‘action’ modality.

This cycle (see portfolio for further details) began in November 2006 with “Action One”, a Zoroastrian Persian litany performed by actor Persis-Jade Maravala at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. “Pinocchio by Collodi” extended the project to encompass a fmiliar narrative text, but one interpreted using paratheatrical voice training techniques, improvisatory creative processes and formalisation of physical scores related to the personal history of the performer.