"Story of a Body" is the journey of a lifetime, an extraordinary journey within an existence. A tender and surprising postmortem gift in diary form from a father to his beloved daughter. A confession and at the same time an analysis, both physical and emotional, that our narrating self held from the age of twelve until the last days of his life.

At the Auditorium, the show based on Daniel Pennac's novel of the same name., stages a flowing narrative where, through his discoveries and mutations, the protagonist's body gradually takes center stage, accompanying us into a world that is revealed through the senses, we would almost say the epidermis: his mother's anaffective voice, his father's silent hugs, the welcoming smell of his beloved nanny, the searing pain of a wound, the taste of his beloved woman's kisses. Pages and pages of an intimate diary where, telling of happy muscles, powerful orgasms, hurting teeth or marvelous adventures between sleep and wakefulness, a unique and at the same time universal story is told: the development, growth and downfall of the only experience that truly makes us all the same, that of us great and vulnerable human beings. And the fact that this is done through writing and storytelling (man is the only narrating creature) gives Pennac the opportunity to accompany us in the discovery of the secret garden that is our body, an organism that is at once memory, testimony and legacy. Pennac tells of the bloody battle with a nasal polyp or the paralyzing discovery of the female body, of infamy, masturbation or the miracle of birth, of the tyranny of flatulence or the tragedy of death always and continually between surprise and smile, between fatality and miracle, greatness and misery. And here Pennac's "voice" becomes grand theater, stops being a book and turns into epic oral narrative where a body's diary becomes a story "worth telling."

DIRECTOR'S NOTES by Giorgio Gallione

1991: I enter the Feltrinelli Bookstore in Genoa. They are changing the location of books and series. Ostriches, Porcupines, Elephants migrate to new shelves. One of the booksellers boldly dribbles a pyramid of Kangaroos, collides with a stand of Dolphins, stumbles, falls. Volumes bounce on the floor, I try to help, pick up a couple. On the back cover I catch a glimpse of a commentary by Stefano Benni, read and meanwhile help tidy up. "They arrived today," the bookseller tells me. I nod and meanwhile photograph some words with my eyes: scapegoat, epileptic dog, murderous Santa Claus. I turn the book over and see the title THE PARADISE OF EARS by Daniel Pennac. Back to the fourth, I read "son of Chandler and Queneau." Many clues make a proof, Philip Marlowe would say, and then the book is mine to buy. Pennac's word has been with me ever since. It has become a constant in my theatrical journey. By and with Daniel I explored "Malaussene" and "The Eye of the Wolf," "Thank You" and "The Long Night of Dr. Galvan," "Diary of an Ass," and even a couple of children's shows. Because Pennac's is not just writing, but "voice," epic and bizarre storytelling together. A very personal, perennial exercise in style that encompasses emotion and smile, irony, playfulness, paradox and melancholy. A rich and surprising theatrical anthology. Pennac's literature is theater in power. For me, director and adapter, an almost inexhaustible "narrative forest" with which I continue to engage with happiness and enthusiasm. Today it is the turn of "Story of a Body." A journey into an existence mirrored in experiences and sensations that start from the flesh, discovery by discovery, surprise by surprise. The body as a wonderful container of stories and tales that on stage gain even more strength, meaning and universality.

FUORIVIA PRODUCTIONS - AGIDI
in collaboration with Teatro Stabile di Bolzano and Teatro Cristallo

presents
JUSEPPE CEDERNA
at
HISTORY OF A BODY
by DANIEL PENNAC
GIORGIO GALLIONE adaptation
scenes Marcello Chiarenza
lights Andrea Violato
assistant set designer Lorenza Gioberti
musical elaborations Paolo Silvestri

directed by GIORGIO GALLIONE

ARTISTIC RESIDENCE with the support of North Pass.