Corrispondenze
in collaboration with
Canarias Crea, Merenda Film srl e Giotto srl

presents

El Suspiro Productions
in

Five kinds of SILENCE

A drama on domestic violence.
Silence.
Five tragic ways of not speaking.

Presented in Milan, for the first time in Italy,
by a theatre company created by actors from Spain, United States, Australia and Italy

From 25th to 31st May 2008, 9.00 p.m.

56Theatre
via Tucidide, 56 – Milan
entry ticket: 10 €

In the wake of the latest, disturbing events of domestic violence revealed by the international press in the last few months – dramas that are able to shake public institutions and private consciences – arrive here in Italy Five Kinds Of Silence by Shelagh Stephenson, performed by El Suspiro Productions, an international theatre company created in New York and based in Canary Islands.

Five Kinds Of Silence is a domestic drama closed between four walls of a house, similar to many other, feeble yet bulky like a prison. Everything starts with the murder of a father guilty of psychologically and physically abusing his wife and two daughters for years. Through several flashbacks and the obsessive presence of their own nightmares, the audience can retrace the existence of these four characters marked by the presence of constant violence in every moment of their lives. Five ways of dealing with violence (the four characters’ and the common thoughts’) and many other ways of reacting, in a rarefied, almost paranoid reality where all the regular space-time points of reference, and the limit between legitimate and illegitimate, between victim and abuser, fear and aggression becomes uncertain and liable.

The audience is brought into the space by Janet, the younger daughter: she wants the drama of the not spoken to be revealed. The vital space of the characters is shared with whom is watching the performance, in the urgent need of sharing the own unmentionable secret and of becoming accomplices of a privacy, soaked in taboo and moralism.

The actors will be amongst the audience with their own clothes; at the beginning of the show they will dress into their characters, to testify that this story belongs to everybody. The choice of having an international cast and the use of the English, make the topic of domestic violence universal.
Five Kinds of Silence is a yell against silence and connivance. It’s an invitation to expressing emotions and discomfort, in a historical moment studded with a lot of words but few actions. It’s the intimate and combative conviction, the one that exists in a habit for love and respect, the one that is thought since the first days of existence for each one of us.

El Suspiro Productions:

New York, an immense laboratory of artists, shaped into a city vibrating of cultural and creative spirit. In this context two years ago a group of actors coming from different parts of the world meet, inspired by the energy of Susan Batson, member of the Actors’ Studio and coach of Nicole Kidman. Working together they experience a great synergy characterized by a pursued and protected artistic freedom.
The aim of the company is to integrate international artistic styles starting from the concept of free and curious art that only New York can inspire. The company mirrors this cultural starting point and look for new inspiring collaborations with other artistic-geographic realities. After the run in Milan of Five Kinds Of Silence they will continue working on other projects around Europe, functioning in turn as creators, producers and actors.

Gabriella Topcov (Susan): director/actress – Australia
Javier Aleman (Billy): choreographer/actor – Spain
Laura Anzani (Janet): actress – Italy
Sandra Holguin (Mary): actress – USA
EJ Fry (voice over: policeman, inspector, detective, psychiatrist, lawyer): dj – USA

Scenography: Veronica Pecorini
Costumes: Sabina Maglia
Lights: Umberto Manente

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