La Repubblica - da Platone e Aristofane, Euripide, Eschilo | Arena del Sole

On 10 March at 7:30 pm, the performance La Repubblica - da Platone e Aristofane, Euripide, Eschilo (The Republic – from Plato and Aristophanes, Euripides, Aeschylus) will take place at the Arena del Sole.

Socrates, invited to dinner by his friend Polemarchus, enjoys searching—together with the other guests—for the origin of justice. They are playing and joking about what is just and who the best man is, when Thrasymachus, furious, decides to intervene. His outburst gives rise to one of the most compelling dialogues on ethics and politics. Unlike the original work, on stage it will be Plato who responds to Thrasymachus’ provocation, silencing Socrates in order to reveal the intentions of an author who always concealed his own ideas behind the words of his master. Plato will lead us on a journey to discover his ideal city, where perhaps few of us would truly wish to live. The conflict will unfold first and foremost within the audience, confronted with the proposal of a city with monstrous contours that fascinates us with the beauty of its unassailable logic.

The themes addressed—from the risk of totalitarianism to the distortion of good intentions into attacks on freedom of thought—prove, unfortunately, more necessary than ever. Two thousand five hundred years later, Plato once again becomes a crucial tool for questioning our everyday reality.

By highlighting the irony that permeates certain pages of Plato’s text and playing with the powerful echoes found in the works of his contemporaries, the performance is a modern comedy, featuring choreographed moments, songs, comic and lyrical flashes. Here, the conflict unfolds above all within the spectator, confronted with the proposal of a city with monstrous contours that fascinates us with the beauty of its unassailable logic. 

On stage, five actors—surrounded by a chorus of students and trainee actors from the “Republic” workshop of the University—bring the words of the great philosopher to life, in a constant dialogue between artistic expression and academic study, overturning perspectives and creating amusing, and at times unsettling, short circuits.
___

direction and dramaturgy Omar Nedjari
assistant director Michele Iuculano
set and costume design Ortiche Studio, Alice De Bortoli
costume and set assistants Paola Grandi, Silvia Civran, Barbara Medeiros, Francesca Abbiati, Alice Nasoni, Pernilla Bertagni, Mia Sveva Jankovic, Alice Negro
lighting design Claudio De Pace
technical assistant Sonja Toja
with Fabrizio Lombardo, Sergio Longo, Stefano Orlandi, Marika Pensa, Giuseppe Sartori
chorus (students and trainee actors, “Republic” workshop, University of Milan) Anna Benedetta Battaia, Serena Krusa, Kevin Massimini, Jacopo Militello, Leonardo Matera, Francesca Mele, Sofia Costanzo, Patrizia Salis, Sofia Genovese, Tommaso Di Bernardo, Giovanni Palazzo.
new translation from the Greek by Andrea Capra and Giuseppe Zanetto
with students from the University of Milan: Penelope Volpi, Daniele Piccitto, Matteo Rinaldi, Matteo Ciocca, Jacopo Militello, and with contributions from students of the Galilean School of Padua
production Compagnia Università degli Studi – A.R.C.U.S. Milano
co-produced with ATIR
in collaboration with Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna | Department of the Arts, ERT, NABA, La Soffitta, DAMSLab and Filò
with the support of Teatro Carcano
under the patronage of Municipality of Bologna