6 February 2013
The sound of the piano conveys Zhanna’s sadness and despair, her strong feelings and her fear of the bombings. This feeling, so different from the freedom she felt in her secret garden, is expressed very powerfully through the piano!
Beatrice, 2d Sovigliana
I really enjoyed the show, especially the set design and the pieces played. The actress was very good at conveying her emotions when she played. I felt sadness when she talked about her family and what they had to face, and joy when she talked about the happy moments she had experienced.
MariaSole, 2d Sovigliana
I was very struck by the fact that two girls ran away from their country and changed their names. Their lives changed completely and it certainly couldn’t have been easy. In their place, I don’t think I would have been so strong.
Lili, 2d Sovigliana
“I don’t care where you go or what you do, but you must live.” This sentence struck me because you could feel how much the father cared for his daughters… more than his own life.
Gianmarco, 2d Sovigliana
I felt sorry for Janna’s father and thought about his despair. He did everything he could to save his daughters and keep them alive…
2d Sovigliana
I really liked the line: ‘I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU DO, THE IMPORTANT THING IS THAT YOU LIVE,’ because it conveys the father’s desperation. All he cares about is that his daughters live, not how they do it. When I heard these words from the protagonist, I understood the love for life that people had at that time.
Eva, 2d Sovigliana
“I am alive thanks to a lie, but I am alive”. This line struck me deeply because it made me understand the value of life; it made me understand how much this girl wanted to live. No matter how many sacrifices we have to make, no matter how many times we have to be sad, WE ARE ALIVE, and there is nothing more beautiful than that!
Anna, 2d Sovigliana
The thing that struck me most about this show was the sentence the father said to his daughters before he was killed. He had paid a guard to let them escape, he had told them that he didn’t care what they did or where they did it, as long as they lived. I felt sadness and compassion for a father who did everything he could to keep his daughters alive.
Erika, 2d Sovigliana
What struck me about the show was when the father said: “It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as… you LIVE!”. When I heard that line, I was overwhelmed by different emotions… Joy and sadness… all at once.
Giulia, 2d Sovigliana
In this show, I was particularly struck by this sentence: “It doesn’t matter what you do, just live,” because with these words, the father showed his daughters how much he loves them and how important their lives are, more than his own! For a moment, I tried to put myself in their shoes… abandoning their family, their habits, but above all, their LIFE! I don’t know if I could have managed to continue living my life! I felt indescribable emotions and can only say how much I admire Zhanna’s strength and determination.
Elisa, 2d Sovigliana
The show really struck me because it makes you understand what it really means to leave everything behind: your room, your things, your secret places, the smells, maybe of sweets… YOUR LIFE. We often say, as if it were nothing: “They left their things, their homes”, we say it very superficially, without considering what it really means. I was particularly struck by these sentences: “My name is Anna Morosova, my sister’s name is Marina… I repeated this sentence ad nauseam for fear of betraying myself…” This girl not only left everything and everyone behind, but was forced to change her identity, her name, her history. She lived in fear of betraying herself, of one day accidentally saying her real name. How horrible that must have been! I cannot imagine how much pain, how many memories, how much fear this girl must have had, an ordinary girl, like any other, who had her life and her childhood torn away from her simply because she was Jewish. It is truly terrible.
Chiara, 2d Sovigliana
I was struck when Zhanna recounted how they made the Jews dig a pit and then shot them and threw them in. I felt sad, it was as if I had a hole in my heart. And when Zhanna threw the toy soldiers on the ground in the show, they looked like drops of water disappearing into thin air.
Michele, 2d Sovigliana
My name is Anna, Anna Morosova
Chen, 2d Sovigliana
10 February 2011
I am the English teacher in Vinci and I was in Berlin-Ravensbruck-Buchenwald with the children. Yesterday evening I saw the 6:30 p.m. show and I would just like to thank you all for the great job you did. It was emotionally captivating and it was also moving to see my students act that way – thanks to you!
Rina Caserta
30 January 2011
I thought there was nothing worse than being interned in human squalor, among the shivers, sweat and filth of a pigsty of men. Then I discovered that being one of the privileged prostitutes of the Sonderbau is much worse. Today I realised that I have lived twice and died twice. I thought I had already stopped living the day they covered me in rags and assigned me a number to become part of the Big Family. The dead of Buchenwald. But I didn’t know that I would lose my life a second time, that I would let it roll away so easily, so lightly, on the ground, like an apple falling from a child’s hand into a pool of water in summer, between green and gold, to see the shapes it makes. I watched it fall inexorably to the bottom, without a tear, without a gasp, just like that, disappearing into the black water of the tub. Into darkness and with no return. Here it is like being buried alive, like finding ourselves walnut kernels squeezed to the last drop of blood. We are just ghosts, white widows. There are countries where white is the colour of mourning, so for us, the dress of death was white. We are the forgotten, the outcasts, we are drunk with fatigue and worn out, consumed and exhausted, dragging our feet and flaccid. Our bodies, once firm and accustomed to the harshness of the world, are now yellow, stinking wax slime that melts in the hands of our customers. We are dolls crushed in the dust, we are untouchable. If you come close, you can smell death. We will be erased from history, in a hole where no daylight filters in, where hours become years and night follows night, which follows night, which follows night, which follows night. Here, it is always night.
As I wrote it on the evening of the show.
Marghe
3 February 2009
Good morning Firenza,
From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for the strong emotions that the show about Auschwitz aroused in my daughter Camilla.
She is only 13 years old, but I think it is right and proper that she should realise what happened in those terrible years, especially when there is the usual idiot (to put it mildly) who tries to question the horror of the extermination camps. Yesterday she talked about it at school with her classmates and her teacher, who said she intended to call Nedo Nencioni to tell the children about his experiences. My husband, who accompanied Camilla, also said he was deeply moved and did not expect to see such an intense performance.
I wanted to let you know, thank you again.
Cinzia
30 January 2009
Hello firenza,
This morning I was unable to see the final part of the show because I had an important work appointment. I was sorry to have to leave and… this time I feel like writing something…
About the show…
It is captivating, right from the first scene, down at the gate. In its simplicity, it manages to make you feel part of the situation. Almost immediately, I had a lump in my throat, which I tried to hold back, but… in the recording scene, it came out. Tears too. I had already seen the concentration camp in Germany and the museum in Berlin, but this morning I couldn’t believe that the place I knew so well had turned into a space where I felt uncomfortable and… even a little afraid… yet I don’t think I’m someone who is easily impressed… but deep down it wasn’t fear, but rather a sense of bewilderment at the history I was seeing unfold before me at that moment. Knowing the actors made me even more uncomfortable, because those faces I knew so well were transformed, just as they must have been in the past…
About the children…
Apart from the somewhat unpleasant thought of teachers who don’t come in because they’re afraid and don’t encourage the children (but… no comment!), I was struck by how involved and bewildered the children were at the same time. With all this virtuality they are used to, what better way to experience real feelings that will remain in their memory more than any story or video about historical events and human fragility?
Thank you for these emotions, thank you for the commitment and passion you continue to put into your work. Thank you for reminding us every time of parts of ourselves that we too often forget.
A big hug,
Marcella
15 July 2006
Last night I saw Il Miracolo
Being in the middle of a firenza show (you can’t say “seeing”, “watching” or “attending”) is like being part of a dream, at times a nightmare. It is a physical experience made up of sounds, voices, colours, visions and rhythms that vibrate inside your stomach. Firenza’s shows are slaps, caresses, flattery for the ears, piercing glances, dust that mixes with your sweat and water that washes your face.
Thanks again and see you soon.
Candida
18 July 2004
“To revive itself, theatre must return to its roots and rediscover words, gestures, the body and emotions, not as ingredients of the show, but as its quiet, urgent or disturbing pace. Because theatre does not belong to the time and space of everyday life, theatre belongs to the sacred, where, through men, forces are represented that stir our depths inhabited by demons and gods.‘
I have borrowed these words to thank you and your actors for giving us the emotions of ’Bianco” last Friday.
See you soon
Candida