Bari Leggera, from July 8th to September 27th ten shows in the outskirts of the city: here is the program

Ten theatrical performances, nine companies involved, national and regional premieres, music and theater, from San Nicola to Abramo, passing through Paolo Poli and Edipo, with guests of the caliber of Pino Strabioli, Ivan Talarico, Stefano Sabelli. Narrative theater is the great protagonist of the Bari Leggera review, presented by the Malalingua Company, within the program of Le due Bari, with the artistic direction of Marco Grossi, scheduled from July 8 to September 27, with a tail of two events also in the month of September.

A project that aims to enhance the dialogue between theater and music, in the wake of the success of the first edition in the summer of 2024, with suggestive forays into the world of itinerant performance and mindfulness, remaining firmly anchored to the storytelling of the stories and traditions of the city of Bari, narrated in an unconventional and fun way.

THE PROGRAM

We start on Tuesday 8 July at 9 pm at the Kismet Theatre, with a tribute to a great of Italian theatre: Paolo Poli . “Sempre fiori mai un fioraio!” by the Alt Academy Company with Pino Strabioli is the moving tribute by the director, actor and television host to Paolo Poli, one of the greatest interpreters and innovators of the Italian stage. Accompanied by Marcello Fiorini on the accordion, the story of an existence dedicated to art and freedom unfolds, the result of a series of lunch meetings between Poli and Strabioli, in the same restaurant, at the same time, over the course of two years.

Who is really the author of a work? This is the question that the singer-songwriter and actor Ivan Talarico , author and performer of “La cantautrice fantasma”, on stage Wednesday 16 July , at 9 pm, in the auditorium of Officina degli Esordi, will try to answer with surreal and bittersweet irony. Through the biography of the singer-songwriter AF, passing through numerous musical plagiarisms and figures such as the Beatles, Jorge Luis Borges, Shakespeare, we look for an answer that in reality perhaps does not exist. An incredible and surprising story, which starts from a rare book found by chance: a long interview with an unknown singer-songwriter who is the true author of very successful songs.

A historic title of the Malalingua Company will be performed on Friday, July 11 , at 9 pm, at the Abeliano Theater. “Edipostanco” by and with Marco Grossi, performed with great success in Puglia and, also in French, at the Avignon Off Festival, was born from the encounter between two theatrical genres at opposite ends: classical tragedy and commedia dell’arte. Grossi brings it back to the stage in a completely new, ironic, surprising guise, exploring many different techniques of narrative theater, from the Sicilian cunto to the Neapolitan tammurriata, up to the stilnovista sonnet.

On Friday 18 July , at 9 pm, in a regional premiere, Bari Leggera will bring to the Casa di Pulcinella, “Figli di Abramo un patriarca, due figli, tre fedi e unattore” by Svein Tindberg. A production of the Compagnia Teatro del Loto directed by Stefano Sabelli who adapted, and performs, exclusively for Italy the Norwegian original (“Abrahams Barn”) which has become a real blockbuster of narrative theatre, a sort of Mistero Buffo centred on the life and dynasty of Abraham, patriarch and prophet common to the three main monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Alternating moments of great fun with others more intense and moving, “Figli di Abramo” investigates the origin of the three great faiths, their Abrahamic descent, common uses and customs, without forgetting the history of perennial and incomprehensible conflicts between peoples who are actually “twins”.

On Saturday 12 July , at 8 pm, the Malalingua Company brings back to the stage its “San Nicola dei baresi”, a show that was a great success in May 2023, at the Teatro Piccinni, on the occasion of the traditional feast of the patron saint. For Bari Leggera, the show dedicated to the stories and traditions linked to the cult of San Nicola, leaves the city centre to meet the citizens of one of the neighbourhoods where the Saint is most venerated: on the stage set up in the spaces of the Giovanni Paolo II Foundation (in via Marche 1) in the San Paolo neighbourhood (there will be a LIS interpretation service), between funny anecdotes and cultural, iconographic and gastronomic references, Marianna De Pinto, Enzo Toma, Monica De Giuseppe and Valentina Gadaleta will alternate.

On Sunday 17 August , the figure of the bishop of Myra will also be at the centre of the national premiere of “Bari anno Mille” (starting in Piazza San Pietro at 18:30), a travelling theatrical journey through the streets of the historic centre with a final meeting, with Enzo Toma and Pasquale Ruggieri, organised by the Compagnia Officina Teatrale in collaboration with the Slowtravels association. The epic of Saint Nicholas and the largest “territorial marketing” operation in the history of the city: the theft of the relics of one of the most venerated saints of Christianity, in a century marked by dramatic turns, changes of allegiance, dominations, battles, crusades and secret plots that marked the destiny of Bari and the history of Europe.

At Parco Gargasole, at 7:30 pm, Thursday 17 July, Marianna De Pinto will stage for the first time “Solo il vento mi piegarà. La donna che amava gli alberi”, a traveling show, of which she is also the author, dedicated to the memory and teachings of Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize 2004, founder of the Green Belt Movement, against deforestation in Kenya. A historical figure, whose work has influenced thousands of people, pushing them to plant millions of trees across the planet. The traveling show will move in the spaces of the urban garden of Gargasole through a path of theater and mindfulness, integrated with a laboratory walk, led by Ortocircuito/Masseria dei Monelli.

Thursday, July 10 , at 8:30 pm, at Parco Campagneros (via Raffaele Bovio 20), the national premiere of “Incantesimi di resistenza” by Effetto Terra association will be performed. An evening of music, Palestinian poetry and enchanted food, curated by British artist Leo Kay, with the playwright support of Teresa Delfine. In collaboration with Cantieri Comune Mediterraneo, Dj El Maximo del Sur, Amira Abuamra, Domenico Centrone and the participants in the workshop on Palestinian performance and poetry.

“Ladri di favole” by Monica De Giuseppe and Anna Lori Fullone will be dedicated to the little ones and to the magic of storytelling capable of sending positive messages, on September 12 at 6 pm in the Maurogiovanni Library in the Carbonara district (via Nicola Colonna 1), with Monica De Giuseppe, Alessandro Fanizza, Laura Legrottaglie, Giuseppe Visaggi.

The program of the festival is completed by “Bari svelata: i racconti intorno al fuoco”, a production of the Stratos association , scheduled for September 27 , at 6 pm (starting from the square in front of the Torre della SS Annunziata; there will be a LIS interpretation service), an itinerant and interactive journey in which the public will be the protagonist of an immersive experience, in which the narration of forgotten episodes of the history of Bari will alternate with the encounter in the streets of the old city with ancient and surprising characters, pilgrims, soldiers, stories of life, faith and armed clashes. The protagonists are Pasquale Ruggieri, Fabio Armenise, Armando Moncelli and Fabio Buono.

Furthermore, from July 3 to August 7, Bari Leggera is promoting, in Piazza Odegitria 4, the 11-meeting workshop “Bari Narrata” curated by the association I Custodi della bellezza, led by Michele Cassano and Pasquale Ruggieri and dedicated to the rediscovery of forgotten stories of the city and their narration, with different techniques and approaches, from theatrical storytelling to figurative arts, from a focus on the Bari dialect as a theatrical language, to narration through documents and architectural symbols.