REAL-LIES - cosìfantutte
ABOUT THE PIECE
// Premiere: 16.05.2007, Theater im Ballsaal, Bonn
// In co-production with steptext dance project (Bremen) / Tafelhalle Nürnberg / Scenario P.u.bli.c.o. (Catania/Italy)
// Created and danced by: Viviana Escalé, Bärbel Stenzenberger, Beniamin Boar, Volkhard Samuel Guist, Martin Inthamoussú, Rafaële Giovanola /// Choreography and Direction: Rafaële Giovanola /// Lighting Design: Marc Brodeur /// Original Music: Jörg Ritzenhoff /// Costume Design: Sabine Schnetz /// Concept and Direction: Rainald Endraß
// Powered by: Kunststiftung NRW / Bundesstadt Bonn / Ministerpräsident des Landes NRW / Beethovenstiftung für Kunst und Kultur der Bundesstadt Bonn / NRW Landesbüro Freie Kultur / Le Conseil de la Culture Etat du Valais
One of the most famous stories about the fragility of existence and identity is told by Mozart‘s opera »Così fan tutte«. Dance company COCOONDANCE, located in Bonn, takes this well-known story as starting point for their own reflection on truth and authenticity, and the illusion of the theatre.
It looks like "A Midsummer Night's Dream", but it is more a strict experimental set up: The delusions and confusions in Così fan tutte, which takes place in eighteenth century Naples, is the result of a bet between Alfonso, Ferrando and Guglielmo. Ferrando is in love with Dorabella, Guglielmo with Fiordiligi; Alfonso bets that the women will be unfaithful. A subterfuge is then enacted: the two men pretend that they have been called off to war, then come back in disguise and woo the girls. As Albanian men, the two attempt to seduce each other's fiancée...
BY AND WITH
Viviana Escalé - FIORDILIGI, vornehme Dame aus Ferrara (Sopran) /// Bärbel Stenzenberger - DORABELLA, ihre Schwester (Sopran) /// Beniamin Boar - GUGLIELMO, Offizier (Bariton) /// Volkhard Samuel Guist - FERRANDO, Offizier (Tenor) /// Martin Inthamoussú DON ALFONSO, ein alter Philosoph (Bass) /// Rafaële Giovanola - DESPINA, Kammerzofe (Sopran)/// Choreografie und Regie: Rafaële Giovanola /// Komposition: Jörg Ritzenhoff /// Lichtgestaltung: Marc Brodeur /// Kostüme: Sabine Schnetz /// Choreographische Assistenz und Videodokumentation: Olaf Reinecke /// Management: Alexandra Schmidt /// Fotografie: Klaus Fröhlich /// Gestaltung: Rolf Bartsch /// Dramaturgie und Konzept: Rainald Endraß
PRESS REVIEWS
"This everlasting game with false dreams about true emotions has been produced by choreographer Rafaële Giovanola and her company COCOONDANCE in their latest production Real-Lies. The result at the theatre would have delighted Mozart for its shrewdness and perceptiveness (...) For all the interlockings, Giovanola and dramaturge Rainald Endraß have invented unusual figures with lunatic jumps, bizarre grips and dramatically exact whirls. Composer Jörg Ritzenhoff has created an off -beat sound track from the Così-interpretation by conductor René Jacobs and diverse pop songs that could hook people to opera."
"Bonn's fine dance company COCOONDANCE has got involved with the tricky story from the gallant times with beautiful subtlety. (...) The choreography by Rafaële Giovanola refers sensibly
to the opera in her search for truth or production. She has translated the constellations brilliantly (...) After two, three parts, Mozart‘s music is replaced by an electro-acoustic space
composition by Jörg Ritzenhoff , which, together with the speaking voices, forms a work of art in its own right."
(Heinz-Dieter Terschüren, Bonner Rundschau, 23. Mai 2007)
"Starting with the story about deceit and betrayal, the company does not only question the nature of love, but in addition the illusion of theatre, by breaking repeatly through play and
reality. (...) Thus, the whole madness that love without fail entails, becomes feasible; and this with the easiness of a video clip. (...) Although the dancers of COCOONDANCE are highly
professional, real-lies - cosìfantutte retains the slightly brittle, makeshift charm of independent productions. However, at the end the impression prevails that the strong theatrical
elements are at the expense of the dance elements. And one would like to experience more of the dance because of the powerful energetic and at the same time light and cool dynamics of the
dance style."
(Nathalia Münnich, Die Deutsche Bühne, Aktuelle KRITIKEN ONLINE, 6/2007)
"Cosi fan tutte is here, you see and taste it in REAL-LIES by dance company COCOONDANCE, who performed last weekend at Scenario Publico. The piece is opened by a very cynic Don Alfonso,
dressed in white linnen. He dominates and manipulates the four protagonists with their bound eyes, hidden behind a curtain made of fifteen dictating machines. The fifth protagonist – without
eyes bound – is Rafaele Giovanola. Following the example of Jiri Kylian, this inventive and ingenious choreographer knows how to bring craziness and emotion in line within a performance. She
is the one sitting behind the director’s desk, where later, the lines by Carlo Da Ponte can be seen. (…) Fiordiligi – Viviane Escale – distinguishes herself through her irresistibly funny
performance from the other, nevertheless well-talented dancers Stenzenberger, Boar, Guist, and Inthamoussu, who is dancing a solo-part for body and voice and panting in Spanish: Do you really
think you know more than I do?"
(Carmelita Celi, La Sicilia, 11-03-2008)