Habil delle città

From June 30 to July 5, 2026, the Sala dello Stabat Mater at the Archiginnasio of Bologna hosts Teatro dell'Argine's new production Habil delle città.

Habil is a teenager from today's urban outskirts. A bedroom that is too small, too many thoughts, and too little space to exist. He feels invisible. He keeps his hood pulled low and a blade hidden in his pocket. Habil is one of the many teenagers living on the margins of our cities. We encounter him in shopping centres, on regional trains and at bus stops. He frightens us. We call upon the State, the family and the school. He writes rap lyrics and fights with Qabil.

Habil delle città is a performance for small groups of spectators seated in a circle, invited to experience two spaces and two responsibilities: being inside and standing face to face. In the first part, through a virtual reality (VR) headset, audiences follow Habil through an ordinary day in his life. They walk beside him, encounter his relationships, his places and his world. Nothing appears extraordinary. Precisely for this reason, what happens at the end of the day—the body of a murdered teenager covered by a white sheet—abruptly shatters all distance.

In the second part, theatre returns to being a shared space. Seated in a circle together with six young actors and actresses, the audience moves from the solitary, immersive experience of virtual reality to the collective experience of being together, as in a ritual or a Greek tragedy. Questions emerge that can no longer be avoided: what individual and social responsibilities run through a city when a teenager is lost in this way? Who is this dead boy? Does it concern us?

Habil delle città is part of Politico Poetico, a project by Teatro dell'Argine developed in collaboration with the Department of Education, Schools and New Generations of the Municipality of Bologna and the IU Rusconi Ghigi Foundation, co-funded by the European Union through the PN Metro Plus 2021–2027 programme.