Intervista a Tatò Carla

Video testimony of Funerale.

Funerale: scenic and dramaturgical dimensions.

D.O. While watching selected excerpts from Funerale at the Ninfeo del Bramante, Donatella Orecchia asks Carla Tatò about her reaction to seeing herself and revisiting her work after many years. 

C.T. Carla Tatò recalls the arrival of the carriage and the horses, together with their scenic positioning, interpreting this moment as the discovery of a new compositional possibility. The dramaturgical tension is attributed to the polarity between the figure of the woman in black (Carla Tatò) and the dancer (Elsa Piperno), whose actions activate responses from the other performers on stage. Piero Brega, described as a “natural tenor,” performs a bolero composed by Giovanna Marini, based on texts developed by Roberto Lerici from Greek and Latin lyric sources (Sappho and minor authors), intended to evoke the imagery of the brothel, traced back to the model of the Cabaret of the Eleven Executioners. Funerale is defined as the culmination and destination of the previous actions created within the space of the Castle: “the sea we eventually reached”. 

The vocal dispositif and performative dynamics.

C.T. Clarifies that in Funerale the microphone is handheld, whereas in Didone it was fixed. The figure of the woman in black is characterized by continuous movement throughout the scenic space. 

D.O. Asks about Elsa Piperno’s role as a provocative agent on stage. 

C.T. The scenic action is described as a system of autonomous subjective activations, grounded in a dynamic of reciprocal provocation. Elsa Piperno is likened to a “serpentine” figure, while the relationship between musicians and performers is configured as an ongoing improvisational dialogue.

[Viewing of Funerale resumes]

During the screening, information is provided regarding the musical ensemble: composition by Giovanna Marini; participation of Massimo Coen (violin), Giancarlo Schiaffini (trombone), and Evelina Meghnagi (voice). The costume is attributed to Bice Minori. A possible integration of the microphone with the carriage is also hypothesized.

The body and costume: the scenic and evocative function of hair.

C.T. Hair is described as a constitutive element of both costume and scenic mask, functioning as a form of covering (“cloak”). Carla Tatò identifies this as a process of reclaiming her own identity in relation to previous experiences, particularly Nora: “Here I am… myself, with my own hair” (00:17:55-00:18:02). 

Scenic relationship and the configuration of the procession in Funerale.

C.T. Carla Tatò describes her gaze as alternating between the procession and the frontal space. The only structured relationship is that with Elsa Piperno, defined in terms of complementarity (“two columns”). The funeral procession is interpreted as a dynamic collective organism: a “speaking and music-making sea”, endowed with both structuring and driving functions. 

Audiovisual documentation and its testimonial function.

C.T. Carla Tatò emphasizes the necessity of having a “witness” to the creative process. She mentions Guido Lombardi (camera operator) and Anna Lajolo (sound recordist), who independently documented the work throughout the entire trajectory, from Borgatacamion to the later experiences, within a relationship characterized by continuity and mutual trust. 

The spectator and the appropriation of the Ninfeo del Bramante.

C.T. Funerale is interpreted as the outcome of the local community’s process of appropriating the Ninfeo. The connection between the Castello Colonna and the Ninfeo del Bramante was marked by a system of loudspeakers. The audience actively participated by bringing chairs from home, thereby becoming an integral part of the event. The Bramante columns were not perceived as obstacles to visibility: spectatorship unfolded within a condition of permanence and widespread participation.

The creative process and the interaction between Carlo Quartucci, Carla Tatò, and Jannis Kounellis.

C.T. The spatial dimension is identified as the central element of the collaboration. Reference is made to Jannis Kounellis’s intervention in the Sala Martino V (the vertical division of the space). The concept of “shipwreck” and the model of the early twentieth-century cabaret (Cabaret Voltaire) are reinterpreted as a daily practice of poetic elaboration within the context of Genazzano.

The everyday working routine is described in detail: continuous work at the Castle, moments of sociability within the village, and interaction with the local community. The creative process developed through dialogue between Carlo Quartucci (discursive elaboration) and Jannis Kounellis (graphic translation through drawing). “The village was alive”. 

Tatò also recalls the genesis of the figure of the woman in black, initially conceived as a nineteenth-century Quaker woman. She refers to the prologue Il fuoco che genera fumo, constructed through interactions between material elements, musical presence, and vocal suspension.

From the prologue Il fuoco che genera fumo to Funerale: project community.

D.O. Asks about the relationship between space and artistic proposal. 

C. T. Describes the spaces in Kassel as non-theatrical environments (factory and museum), paying particular attention to an industrial space on the third floor, characterized by a large glass facade and identified by Rudi Fuchs.

The creative process and the absence of rehearsals. 

C.T. Explains that there was an initial projectual intention, though not formally defined, which developed through a process of situated discovery within the performance space. She notes that Didone followed a similar process. 

D.O. Questions the role of rehearsals. 

C.T. States that there were no on-site rehearsals: the work was based on imagination, discussion, and the sedimentation of previous experiences developed in Genazzano. 

Cartography and the planning of urban space.

C.T. Refers to Cesare Panepuccia, a local architect who acted as mediator between the artists and the institutions. Piazza d’Amico and Piazza Senile are identified as central hubs of community life.
Maps obtained from the municipal administration were used as planning tools, integrating direct experience of the urban space with reflections on dimensions, capacity, and the various possibilities for its use.

The prologue as the activation of space.

D.O. Donatella Orecchia asks about the significance of opening the project with this type of scenic action. 

C.T. Carla Tatò explains that the prologue revolves around the “enigma of space”, a condition shared by all the participants: the impossibility of speech (Tatò), the impossibility of transformation (Kounellis), and Quartucci’s directorial organization of the theatrical device. The action inaugurates Castello Colonna as a space of collective experience. 

Material devices and community involvement.

C.T. Carla Tatò refers to Jannis Kounellis’s visual imagery. The transportation of the billiard table actively involved the local community – eighty workers coordinated by the mayor – highlighting the collective dimension of the intervention. 

D.O. Donatella Orecchia asks about the female figure whose face remains concealed. 

C.T. Carla Tatò relates the figure to earlier iconographic motifs developed by Kounellis. She argues that the prologues contributed to the construction of a dramaturgy of space grounded in the direct involvement of the local community. 

Uscite.

Analysis of Platea.

C.T. Carla Tatò reconstructs Giulio Paolini’s visual work derived from Platea. The work consists of a photographic device in which frames interfere with the central image, prompting a reflection on Paolini’s trajectory between the visual arts and theatre.
Platea is presented as emerging in relation to Comédie Italienne and Didone. Tatò describes the scenic composition and its characters (Roberto Lerici as Laertes; Joan Jonas as Anticlea; Lawrence Weiner as Antinous; Yves Ollivier as Telemachus; Antonio Manganaro as Eumaeus), emphasizing a theatrical structure that reflects the spectator’s point of view and Ulysses’ search.

Modes of reception and the role of the spectator.

End of interview.