The “Compagnia della Fortezza” is a theatre company directed by Armando Punzo. Being on the scene since the late Eighties and having been awarded with the UBU prize on several occasions, the company stands out as a milestone against the background of our dramaturgical scenario. At present, in the aftermath of reaction to an experimental move made at the last edition of “Festival VolterraTeatro”, the company members take a further step through Genet’s artistic world by relying on an accomplished drama, in view of new and more engaging landscapes which they refer to with the strength and vitality of a revolutionary language.

This play bears the same title as an essay by Jean Paul Sartre, who dedicated it to his friend Jean Genet in 1952, giving his contribution to foster the myth of a contradictory and ambiguous French writer. Punzo revives this “holy Genet” and his nomadic adventures, oozing a sense of segregation, transgression, political ideology and sexual excitement through the bodies and voices of actors from “Compagnia della Fortezza”, in an intentional effort to mix up the boundaries between reality and fiction, biography and self-biography. 

Compagnia della Fortezza
SAINT GENET 
inspired by Jean Genet’s work
dramatisation and direction Armando Punzo 
with Armando Punzo and the detained actors from “Compagnia della Fortezza”
live played original music and sound design Andrea Salvadori
scenography Alessandro Marzetti, Silvia Bertoni, Armando Punzo
costume design Emanuela Dall'Aglio
gesture design Pascale Piscina
director’s assistant Laura Cleri
production Compagnia della Fortezza
VolterraTeatro | Carte Blanche Centro Nazionale Teatro e Carcere | Tieffe Teatro Menotti