by and with Ermanna Montanari, Stefano Ricci, Daniele Roccato

scenic poem by Marco Martinelli

sound direction Marco Olivieri
lighting technician Luca Pagliano
technical direction Enrico Isola, Fagio
realization stage elements technical team Teatro delle Albe Alessandro Pippo Bonoli, Fabio Ceroni, Fagio, Enrico Isola, Danilo Maniscalco, Dennis Masotti, Luca Pagliano
vintage A.N.G.E.L.O. garments.
production and promotion Silvia Pagliano
organization Francesca Venturi
press relations and consulting Rosalba Ruggeri
design and graphic layout Stefano Ricci

Teatro delle Albe/Ravenna Teatro production in collaboration with Primavera dei Teatri

Ermanna Montanari, actress and author; Stefano Ricci, painter and illustrator; and Daniele Roccato, composer and solo double bassist-three artists with an unmistakable style have come together to create MOTHER, the story of a rural son and mother. She fell into a well. Out of carelessness? By insanity? By choice? This is not a dialogue: it is a diptych, composed of two monologues, him scolding her and going to find the tools, winches and muskets, iron pipes and pulleys, the "technology" to get her out; her confessing deep down in the bottom of that seemingly endless well that she is not afraid, that she is not uncomfortable. From that desolate landscape looms the allegory of an increasingly poisoned Mother Earth, the nightmare of a "technology" that, instead of discreetly helping humanity, stands as arrogant and destructive, capable of devastating millennia-old balances. In the inlay of the text, between Italian and Romagnolo dialect, two figures emerge poised between the stark reality of our days and the symbols of an ominous and indecipherable future: they seem like emblems of an oriental fairy tale.

Beginning with the dramaturgy written for them by Marco Martinelli, the three artists confront each other on stage by interweaving Ricci's dreamy live drawings with the magmatic vocal sounds of Montanari, who gives voice to both the Son and the Mother, and the sweet, piercing sounds of Roccato's double bass.

Ermanna Montanari, actress, author and set designer, is the founder and artistic director of Teatro delle Albe (1983) together with Martinelli. For his extraordinary vocal research, to which essays and publications are dedicated, he has received awards, including seven Ubu Prizes, Golden Laurel, Premio Lo straniero "in memory of Carmelo Bene," Premio Eleonora Duse.

Stefano Ricci, designer, collaborates with periodical press and publishing in Italy and abroad, signing projects for which he was selected on the 2000 ADI, and for the 2001 Compasso d'Oro award. He has exhibited in public spaces, galleries and festivals around the world. He is a lecturer at ÉESI-Angouleme, Accademia Belle Arti Bologna, D.A.M.S.-Udine/Gorizia. Works for theater, dance and film.

Daniele Roccato, solo double bassist and composer, has played, often with his own compositions, at some of the most prestigious festivals and concert halls in the world. Some of the most important composers since the postwar period have written for him. He also works in dance and theater. He has recorded for ECM, Wergo, Sony.

Marco Martinelli, playwright and director, has received awards including seven Ubu Awards, Hystrio Award, Golden Laurel. His plays are translated, published and staged in ten languages and selected by Fabulamundi and IPP Italian & American Playwrights Project.