"Harem" di Alberto Bassetti

TeatroBasilica
PEOPLE
a season dedicated to the audience
Sixth season of the TeatroBasilica in Rome
From October 25 to 27, 2024

GILIBERTI/BASSETTI
Harem
By Alberto Bassetti
Produced by Associazione Città Teatro
In collaboration with VersoArgo
Directed by Manuel Giliberti
Assistant Director Giovanni Ragusa
Costumes by Lidia Agricola
Original music by Antonio Di Pofi
Scenic movements by Serena Cartia
Scenes by Giovanni Ragusa

with Simonetta Cartia, Deborah Lentini, Alessandra Fazzino, Cecilia Mati Guzzardi, and Emanuele Puglia

From October 25 to 27, 2024, the play “Harem” by Alberto Bassetti, directed by Manuel Giliberti, will be on stage at TeatroBasilica. Starring Simonetta Cartia, Deborah Lentini, Alessandra Fazzino, Cecilia Mati Guzzardi, and Emanuele Puglia.

Synopsis
About Harem, or a tragicomedy of waiting.
The action takes place in the hall of one of the many castles that Frederick II had built in his territories. However, this building frenzy did not always correspond to real use, and many of these fortresses, whose imposing architectural lines still characterize the Sovereign's lands today, were in many cases populated only by garrisons and nobles whose sole function was to await the Sovereign's visit and prepare for a defense that in many cases was never necessary. Harem is the story of one of these castles and the people who inhabit it. A slice of life that mixes humanity and history. In one of these fortresses, four women of different birth and race spend their existence. They are the favorites of a Harem that has not yet been visited by its Lord.

The four, a Sicilian, a German, a Roman, and a Saracen, talk among themselves, hypothesize, dream, clash in the hope of one day being chosen as the Emperor's favorite. They behave and act as if they are already living this confrontation and therefore do not shy away from pettiness, insinuations, and mutual attacks. Each is a world: there is the Sicilian, who has stopped waiting and hoping, the Saracen, aware of her own beauty and youth, who is certain of a better fate, and the other two, who mix bitterness and aggressiveness like a beast kept in captivity. Thus, day after day, a game of massacre is consumed, almost a dance of the mind, a sort of farandole that replaces body movement with a feverish activity of the brain, which the four women perform for their advantage to be ready when the Emperor arrives, each one striving to surpass the others. And there will be a visit: the arrival of an unexpected Visitor will lead to a conclusion that will be quite different from any imagined; a conclusion that will seal for the four women the fall of all illusions and together the necessity to leave the game to recognize the pettiness of their own reality. The painful realization of a futureless destiny, whose story was already written from the start. What happens will turn the comedy into tragedy, and even if nothing bloody actually occurs, another end, a moral death, will await the four women the next day, when the sun rises.

Bassetti, as an experienced playwright, provides the leading actresses with four characters that, while moving within the framework of a historical period, fully assume the characteristics of modern women dealing with the search for their own identity. And so, while smiling, laughing, and reflecting, we also ask ourselves questions as the story unfolds on stage, ancient yet very relevant today, in the tale of the unchanged relationship between power and dependence.

Manuel Giliberti

INFORMATION
The "TeatroBasilica" is directed by actress Daniela Giovanetti, director Alessandro Di Murro. Organized by the collective Gruppo della Creta and a team of artists and technicians. Artistic supervision by Antonio Calenda. All information about TeatroBasilica at this link:
[TeatroBasilica Link]

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Saturday at 9:00 PM - Sunday at 4:30 PM
Prices: Full ticket € 18.00
Reduced ticket € 12.00 (students, under 26, operators)
Online ticket € 15.00
4-show ticket package € 40.00
Location:
Piazza di Porta San Giovanni 10, Rome
[TeatroBasilica Website]