The Wrath of Achilles is a staging with puppets designed not for the small proscenium but for the big stage. The action takes place on three stage planes: the men/puppets, the priests/puppets, and the gods/actors. Giacomo Cuticchio specially wrote the musical suite for the show, which was conceived, edited and directed by his father Mimmo.
At the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, the epic merges with the contemporary in a staging that sees new puppets created on the figures of the Greeks and Trojans in action, respecting those traditional canons that the Family of Art has handed down from generation to generation. Similarly, ancient and modern instruments are harmonized in the soundtrack that accompanies, in a dialectical progression, the events depicted, following the rhythms of improvisation typical of puppet theater.
Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy, kidnaps Helen, wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. The Greeks get together and decide to declare war on the Trojans. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and brother of Menelaus, is elected commander-in-chief. Among the warriors are the valiant Odysseus, Ajax Oileus, Ajax Telamon, Antilochus, Diomedes, Menelaus, Nestor, Patroclus, Achilles, and the soothsayer Chalchas. Greek ships landed on the shores of Troy, all along the coast. King Priam gathered his many sons and allies and entrusted the command of the city's defense to first- son-in-law Hector. The siege of Troy lasts nine years. The Greeks, though numerous, are unable to approach the city's high walls. In the tenth year, Chryses, a priest of Apollo, comes to Agamemnon to ransom his daughter Chryseides, who had been assigned to the king of Mycenae during the partitioning of a booty. But Agamemnon refuses and brutally drives him away. The priest Chryses therefore prays to the god Apollo to punish the arrogance of the Greeks, and so Apollo shoots plague arrows at the Achaean camp: for nine days herds and men die. On the tenth day, Achilles asks for a council meeting.
The Iliad or both the redemption of Priam
Stage adaptation and direction: Mimmo Cuticchio
With Giacomo Cuticchio, Tania Giordano, Giuseppe Graffeo, Elisa Puleo
Music: Giacomo Cuticchio performed by the Giacomo Cuticchio Ensemble
Scenes: Marco Incardona
Costumes: Tania Giordano
Lights: Marcello D'Agostino
Production: Figli d'Arte Cuticchio