IO
IO is the final paragraph of RADICAL CHANGE, visual translation, filmic, space, sound of Ovid's Metamorphoses, the latest performance project produced by Lenz Rifrazioni, created and directed by Maria Federica Maestri and Francesco Pititto, musical elaboration by Andrea Azzali.
IO is played by Sandra Soncini, historic performer of Lenz Rifraczioni and extraordinary protagonist of the Faustian trilogy. Since the nineties, the actress has artistically crossed the major dramaturgy explored by the research company, embodying its expressive extremism with maximum rigor.
The metamorphosis of the nymph Io, object of Jupiter's amorous attentions and transformed by the god into a heifer to hide her from the eyes of his wife Juno, is recreated through a detailed material reflection on the concept of the mystical body. The identity of the sacred body is defined in the exaltation of a hypertrophic ecstasy, a liturgical-pathological shapeliness that is imprinted on the page of mud and sand on which to leave one's own bodily imprint. Based on excess dynamism (the non-stop race to which Io is forced by Juno's anger) the performative movement consists of a continuous gastric solicitation incessantly prodded by the urgency of its opposite.
The seriality of a “Simmenthal” meat container, identity shell of the cow, iconically visualizes the metamorphic transition from human body to animal body. Sinking into religious ecstasy, the tearful mooing of the cow aspires to an intimate conversation with a divine who does not appear.
Io
from Ovid's Metamorphoses
creation || Maria Federica Masters | Francesco Pititto
translation | playwriting | imagoturgy || Francesco Pititto
installation | wrappers | plastic elements | regia || Maria Federica Masters
musica || Andrew Azzali
performer || Sandra Soncini
production || Lenz Refractions
duration || 40 minutes
first || Lenz Theatre, Parma, As a Little Phoenix 2, 14 March 2008
The creation was presented: at the Frontiere in Metamorfosi Festival in Cascina (2008), at the Prototype Festival in Savona (2008).
