La Gaia Scienza. Biographical note
by Stefano Scipioni
One of the most interesting theatre companies of the late Seventies – early Eighties is La Gaia Scienza, born on a train to Venice, where Giorgio Barberio Corsetti, Alessandra Vanzi and Marco Solari formed the nucleus of the company. The name ‘La Gaia Scienza’ came from Nietzsche’s book, an author the tree components loved particularly, and from the title of Corsetti’s essay for his diploma at the Accademia d’Arte Drammatica Silvio D’Amico.
In 1976, the director Simone Carella offered the company the opportunity to realize their first theatre performance. At Beat ’72, off-off theater in Rome, La Gaia Scienza staged La rivolta degli oggetti, by Vladimir Majakovskij, with the purpose to recover the transgressive character of this great poet’s work. A new work of the company with Carella was the staging of Luci della città, at the first meeting on “Postavanguardia/intervento didattico”, in Cosenza in 1976. The actors took part in this project and reversed the subjection that traditionally binds the actors to the director. In 1977, from Simone Carella and Ulisse Benedetti’s project La nascita del teatro, La Gaia Scienza staged their third performance, Cronache Marziane, still at the Beat ’72. Taken from a science fiction novel by Ray Bradbury, it presented the predominant theme of their research: destructing the stage machinery and all its elements: the space, the performers’ actions, the objects, the musics. And it had also the same discomfort inherent in La rivolta degli oggetti, a genuine rage through the entire performance, a haunting trip full of anxiety and violence.
Documents are published in original language. In case the translation is present, both the original and the translation are published.
Giuseppe Bartolucci,Su alcuni modi di lavorare della postavanguardia, «Teatroltre. La scrittura scenica», n.14, 1976.
Italo Moscati,Tutti contro tutti, «L'europeo», 3 December 1976.
Italo Moscati,L'avanguardia brucia a Berlino, «L'Europeo», 16 June 1978.
Grassouttel, a cura di,La città dello spettacolo, intervista a Marco Solari «Lotta continua», 28 June 1978.
La Gaia Scienza,TRE NOTE SU TEATRO E DINTORNI, «Lotta continua», 5 July 1978
Titti Danese,Incontro con la postavanguardia, «Segno», n. 9, 1978.
Lorenzo Mango,Per la «Gaia scienza», «Teatroltre. La scrittura scenica», n. 20, Bulzoni editore,1979.
Enzo Bargiacchi,Il cammino della Gaia Scienza, «Teatroltre. La scrittura scenica», n.20, Bulzoni editore, 1980.
Silvana Sinisi,La Gaia Scienza, in S. Sinisi, Dalla parte dell'occhio: esperienze teatrali in Italia, 1972-1982, edizioni Kappa, 1983.
Lorenzo Mango,Cento modi di fuga, in Odradek i quaderni 1, omaggio a La Gaia Scienza, Rome, 1987.
Gianni Manzella,Un alfabeto provvisorio, in Odradek i quaderni 1, omaggio a La Gaia Scienza, Rome, 1987.
Oliviero Ponte Di Pino,Verso un'estasi materialistica, in Odradek i quaderni 1, omaggio a La Gaia Scienza, Rome, 1987.
Giorgio Sebastiano Brizio,Materiali ed oggetti, in Odradek i quaderni 1, omaggio a La Gaia Scienza, Rome, 1987.
Antonio Attisani,Teatro come differenza, in Odradek i quaderni 1, omaggio a La Gaia Scienza, Rome, 1987.
Giuseppe Bartolucci,Marco di profilo, in Odradek i quaderni 1, omaggio a La Gaia Scienza, Rome, 1987.
City lights. 1976.
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Martian chronicles. 1977.
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Ensemble. 1980
Marco Solari private archive.
Turchese. 1981.
Marco Solari private archive.
Teatrography, , edited by Stefano Scipioni
Videography,, edited by Stefano Scipioni
Bibliography of La Gaia Scienza, edited by Stefano Scipioni