CARLENTINI – The ” Turi Ferro ” theater of Carlentini, opened the curtain on the scenarios of ” Il Nodo ” by Johnna Adams, interpreted by Ambra Angiolini in the role of the mother and by Arianna Scommegna in the role of the teacher. The direction is by Serena Sinigaglia, the sets by Maria Spazzi, the costumes by Erika Carretta, the music by Mauro di Maggio and Federica Luna Vincenti, Artistic Direction by Alfio Breci and Light Designer Roberta Faiolo.
The original title, Gidion’s Knot, in English takes up the expression gordian’s knot, the “Gordian knot”, that is an expression linked to the deeds of Alexander the Great, which indicates a knot impossible to untie except with a clean cut. A metaphor that tells us that there are conflicts that cannot be resolved except with a clean cut, or at least set aside.
The viewer is immediately struck by the first and only scene, a classroom with desks arranged along an inclined plane. This scenographic element alone is enough to introduce the theme of the school, much discussed and debatable. While, the only two protagonists, a mother and a teacher, introduce us to the very difficult and twisted relationship between school and family.
The protagonists are two women endowed with neurotic strength and highly energetic eloquence, who activate a conversation made up of inquisitive tones, unanswered questions, accusations and expectations.
The conversation immediately begins with a reciprocal prejudiced attitude, immediately emphasizing the non-transparent and disrespectful relationship that is sometimes created between families and the school. The conversation takes on increasingly excited tones, continuing through strong emotions, excited tones and upset behaviors.
The dialogue is a continuous ping-pong of questions and answers without a solution, a continuous agitation, a bodily movement of the actresses who go around the class, like a whirlwind until reaching the climax, which sees the woman “mother” knocking on the ground chairs and desks, creating absolute disorder within the school institution, a symbol of the disorder that parents very often create within the student-school-family relationship. Every action, phrase or word revolves around a very delicate and unfortunately current topic: bullying.
At the beginning he is not mentioned with his real name, as if the two women were speaking through riddles and riddles, nobody wants to say too much and nobody wants to tell the truth. Every scene and joke is nothing but the metaphorical transfer of what sometimes happens during a school-family meeting. Each of this institution tries not to overreact for fear of saying something wrong, hiding behind unfinished sentences or nonsense justifications.
Only in the end, the truth will be revealed… the anger of a woman who arrives at school and accuses the teacher and throws chairs and desks in the air… it is the anger of a mother who has lost a child to bullying. A very bad deal…the two women try to understand the roots of this phenomenon, but cannot find the answers, the causes and the main actors in the role of creator or victim.
Although the women seem to be in two different positions, in reality they live badly and suffer one from the loss of the child and the other from the loss of the cat…Well…here the spectator is a bit taken aback and thinks…” but …they are two pains that cannot be compared…” And instead, the author does it to underline how much harm the loneliness in which the teacher lives can do and how much harm the loneliness of a mother can do, even if for different. The conversation between the two women, marked by the suffering of their experience, culminates in an unexpected and liberating embrace.
Scanning the entire scenic space is the inexorable ticking of time that passes, which underlines every word, every emotion, every suffering, every second, every wait…
Waiting for that who will never come: the Executive.
Finally… the single, static and essential scene, the presence of only two characters, the marking of Time, and the expectation of something or someone that will never arrive, inevitably make one think of Samuel Beckett’s Theater of the Absurd and “Waiting for Godot”…
From here, the author of this work leads us to the image of the educational institution that does not have the courage to face uncomfortable situations, which hides behind
hypocrisy, shadow and non-transparency. Putting the emphasis only on the responsibilities of the school and teachers.
Let’s face it…it’s not always like this. School doesn’t always hide, on the contrary… very often it takes on enormous problems and tries to solve them very well.
In the history of man’s developmental age, the role of parents and their relationship with the school and the surrounding social reality are fundamental for the growth of children.
We should avoid biased attitudes towards the school institution, be more confident and build a transparent and synergistic relationship, for the good of the kids.
It’s convenient to offload responsibilities to others… but… it’s not fair like this, it’s not necessary, it doesn’t make you feel better, it doesn’t solve problems, but it multiplies them… it’s better to question yourself and try to solve the root problem, together.
