IN SHORT ⟶ Fanny & Alexander set up a phantasmal court to evoke one the most notorious serial killers of the XX century: Charles Manson. A recreation through sounds and acoustic writing where Andrea Argentieri plays the accused, openly inviting the audience to judge.
In Manson by Fanny & Alexander, award-winning actor Andrea Argentieri plays the role of the accused and mimetically interprets his character: Charles Manson with his labyrinthine, histrionic, slippery, manipulative mind. Inspired by audio and video interviews, the actor applies the rhythm, the broken gestures and the volatile gaze of the character as a matrix to his own voice and body. As a ghost that haunts us right when we try to formulate a judgement.
The show makes the audience play the uncomfortable role of a belated jury. Blunt and rhythmical sentences emerge suddenly from a compact and sonorous, immersive and nightmarish darkness and, through narration and the senses, they unearth what happened in the infamous ranch of the “family” – the hippy community founded by Manson – and in the court where he was trialled. At the end of this recreation by way of sounds and acoustic writing, the audience notices a real presence, a witness who approaches them to answer their questions. Is only judgement at stake?
Fanny & Alexander is an art workshop founded in Ravenna in 1992 by Luigi De Angelis (director, set and lighting designer) and Chiara Lagani (playwright, author and actress). They produce theatre shows, live performances, operas and installations blending theatre, visual arts, music, cinema and literature together, involving a wide network of artists from different disciplines whose interaction gives life to an analysis of the relationship between tradition and new technologies. In 2019, Se questo è Levi was awarded with the Premio Speciale Ubu and Andrea Argentieri – starring in it – won the Premio Ubu for Best Actor Under 35. They have authored, through Federica Fracassi, the project Trilogia della città di K. based on the same-title novel by Ágota Kristóf for the 2023/2024 season of the Piccolo Teatro in Milan.
conception, direction, lighting, sound design Luigi De Angelis
dramaturgy, costumes Chiara Lagani
with Andrea Argentieri
linguistic and phonetic counselling Gabriella Gruder-Poni, David Salvage
promotion and communication Maria Donnoli
organisation Maria Donnoli, Marco Molduzzi
administration Marco Molduzzi, Stefano Toma
production Fanny & Alexander
in collaboration with Olinda/TeatroLaCucina
ph Andrea Argentieri
