When
Saturday, 28 January 2012, 9:30 p.m.; Sunday, 29 January, 6:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Where
Auditorium La Tinaia, Parco Corsini, Fucecchio (FI)
Press office
Camilla Rigatti
Show/Performance about the women of Sonderbau conceived and directed by firenza guidi
Research on the theme of women, history and memory is, for firenza guidi, a life project. ECLISSI is no exception. If, for Holocaust survivors, talking about their experiences was a difficult undertaking in the post-war period, for the prisoners-prostitutes-forced into brothels set up at Himmler’s behest in the extermination camps, telling or even admitting their stories was – and still is – taboo.
The performance-research has its roots in the director’s numerous trips to extermination camps, but in particular in her trip to Ravensbrück and Buchenwald in November 2011, where guidi was struck by the realisation of a new devastating reality: forced prostitution in extermination camps.
Guidi’s journey into the world of Sonderbau, which began last year, expands and deepens with new research leading to a new, fascinating and at the same time disturbing performance that walks among the smell of flesh and sweat impregnated in the folds and cracks of the first brothel for prisoners established in Buchenwald. Sonderbau means “special building”, and this name encapsulates all the disarming irony of a place that is unique and special for gruesome reasons.
For the occasion, the rooms of the Auditorium La Tinaia will become “the house” where these first deportees from Ravensbrück will live their first day in the hell of Sonderbau. Lured by the promise of an unlikely liberation, the first volunteer prostitutes take five steps forward to accept their privileged destiny.
The theme of this journey/performance is a vivid picture, but one created with documentary and artistic sensitivity and accessible to high school students in the district: the highlight of the Municipality of Fucecchio’s celebrations for Holocaust Remembrance Day, the performance is mainly dedicated to young people: the premiere of ECLISSI will be staged exclusively for the students of the “A. Checchi” Institute in Fucecchio and the “Virgilio” Art School in Empoli, in two performances to be held on Saturday 28 January in the morning.
Director, author and manager of Elan Frantoio, firenza guidi has been producing theatre shows and films inspired by events, memories and phenomena linked to the local and universal sphere for fifteen years. Elan Frantoio’s activities are based on the philosophy of staging new dramas: new because they are unpublished in terms of texts and scenography, or new because they belong to contemporary authors who have never been represented in our country.