From April 17th to 26th 2009
New Theater of Naples
BLACK HEART
author and director Fortunato Calvino
with Loredana Simioli, Massimiliano Rossi, Ivano Schiavi and Mariano Gallo
All members who show their Arcigay membership card at the box office will pay just 8.00 euros for a ticket.
Black Heart by Fortunato Calvino
The author and director tackles the drama of love between two men from the Neapolitan underworld and the "code of honor" of the mafia, which does not tolerate homosexuality.
The Nuovo Teatro Nuovo will host, from Friday 17 April 2009 at 8.45 pm (with repeat performances until Sunday 26), the world premiere of the show Cuore Nero, based on the text of the same name by Fortunato Calvino (Alfredo Guida Editore, 2009), who also signs the stage direction.
Presented by Dalga Produzioni, the production features Loredana Simioli, Massimiliano Rossi, Ivano Schiavi, and Mariano Gallo, along with original music by Paolo Coletta, set design by Pasquale Galluccio, and costumes by Annamaria Morelli. Cuore Nero (Black Heart) is the place where death strikes daily with merciless frequency. Mirror of a degraded reality, of loneliness and oppression, where loving seems like a fault, a blasphemy..
News reports often report how the Camorra and the Mafia consider being homosexual and part of them "incompatible." Fortunato Calvino's text, winner of the 2009 Calcante Prize, is a bitter mirror of real life, reiterating how crime does not pay and that the individual's path to acceptance is also affected. The two protagonists, victims and executioners of themselves, have chosen to commit crime, they experience an internal drama because they do not accept their homosexuality, but also the drama of not being accepted as homosexuals in their social context.
The two characters depicted in Black Heart, Tommaso and Pietro, are dark souls who wander around an abandoned suburban church on the outskirts of the city, where they spend their days waiting for the neighborhood boss to call them and assign them to kill expeditions. A no-man's land, that place, where another dark soul, Anna 'a Rossa, engages in fleeting encounters of passionless sex, indifferent to the violent blows of the man on duty, inflicted like stabs. Her clients are often inexperienced young people, and some, like Rino, are dissatisfied with their lives and dream of leaving to find happiness elsewhere. Thomas and Peter are two hearts full of anger and violence, ready for the most cruel atrocities.. Messengers of death, they spend their days in the church, while a warm summer sun, filtering through the windows, warms the abandoned place and fuels a mutual attraction. A desire that draws them together, which they try to suppress but fail, knowing that their passion is incompatible with the "system.".
The protagonists, both beautiful and damned, are not positive heroes, as they should be. In that sun-drenched suburb, among concrete tenements soaring toward the sky, love, with its absolute values, endures, despite the violence, abuse, and arrogance of those who dictate their law of death. A politically correct text, which narrates the amorous torments of two men, a drama that draws on and expertly represents our "bittersweet" everyday life, where loving glances and the hateful culture of oppression intertwine. The homosexuality of the protagonists represents "the sweet", the life in illegality, the bitter.
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Preface to the text by Salvatore Simioli (Arcigay delegation for the fight against the mafia)
[email protected]
In his play, "Black Heart," Fortunato Calvino explores the love between two men belonging to the Neapolitan underworld. His text allows the viewer a glimpse into the lives of these "guagliùni," revealing the fleeting joys, torments, and unhappiness of lives spent in hiding, perhaps in a refuge where they exchange furtive caresses.
The underworld subculture, the mafia's "code of honor," does not tolerate homosexuality; being homosexual can even cost you your life.. The story of Peter and Thomas is not a love story with a capital "L", it does not have a happy ending, but it represents authentically, without winks or "false do-goodism", the experience of two men who search for each other, who deny their homosexuality but who, in the end, realize that that "delinquent" culture steeped in machismo and abuse makes them unhappy.
A dark, dramatic picture, full of homoeroticism and sensuality, that shouts a clear message: convert to the culture of legality, to the culture of love in the open, this alone is the path to happiness. A warning that applies to everyone, but for homosexuals it takes on an even more necessary and urgent significance, in the homophobic context of the criminal subculture.
An invitation to come out: to emerge, as homosexuals, from the swampy mire of "crime." News reports often tell us how the Camorra and the Mafia consider it "incompatible" to be homosexual and part of these criminal organizations. Well, the text is a bitter mirror of real life; it also tells us that crime doesn't pay, that even the individual's journey of acceptance suffers. Pietro and Tommaso are victims and executioners of themselves; they have chosen to commit crime., They experience an internal drama because they do not accept their homosexuality, but also the drama of not being accepted as homosexuals in their social context.. The protagonists, both beautiful and damned, are not positive heroes, as they should be. The text recounts an often silenced reality: homosexual love between two criminals. By recounting this relationship realistically and without exaggeration, it acknowledges the "normality" of homosexuality, regardless of age, gender, or social class.
A politically correct text, which narrates the amorous torments of two men, a drama with a neo-Shakespearean matrix that draws on and skilfully represents our "bittersweet" daily life, where loving glances and the hateful culture of oppression mix, the homosexuality of the protagonists represents "the sweet", the life of illegality the bitter.
