Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio, Presented in association with Theatre at UBC

“Romeo Castellucci confirmed his rep as contemporary theatre's most audacious and inventive image-maker with his meditation on women and femininity… Why is Castellucci's brilliant work not seen Stateside more frequently?”—Variety

January 23–26, 2008, 7:30pm
Frederic Wood Theatre at UBC

Post-show Talkback
Thursday, January 24, 2008

Running Time 1h15m

By Romeo Castellucci
Original music Scott Gibbons
Statics and dynamics Stephan Duve
Stage Director Sergio Scarlatella
Lighting technician Giacomo Gorini, Luciano Trebbi
Sculptures Plastikart, Istvan Zimmermann
Cast Silvia Costa, Sonia Beltran Napoles

Production Odeon Théâtre de l'Europe con Festival d'Automne/Paris - steirischer herbst/Graz - Le Maillon Théâtre/Strasbourg - de Singel /Antwerpen - Productiehuis Rotterdam (Rotterdamse Schouwburg) - Cankarjev dom Ljubljana - Trafò House of Contemporary Arts/Budapest - Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio
Management for American Tour Aldo Miguel Grompone, Roma

The stage is enveloped in fog as slow music surrounds the audience. A gelatinous substance softly falls from a table to the floor. Then, little by little, as if shedding a skin, the naked body of a young woman emerges. She will face many challenges as a newborn. She will need to harden herself and form a protective shell. Half Joan of Arc, half Juliet, she will be torn between the desire to fight for her freedom and a powerlessness that condemns her to wait to be saved. How can she free herself from the constraints of culture and history? How can she express her individuality?

Repetition can make all gestures seem mechanical, empty and even absurd. Nevertheless, Romeo Castellucci shows that gestures still suggest meaning to us, even when deprived of context. Woven of images of fascinating and frightening strength, Hey Girl! explores the female body and sensitivity, evoking the slavery, violence, and servitude that still too often afflict women. Acclaimed in Turin, Budapest, Paris, Rotterdam, Québec City and Montreal, Hey Girl! takes place on the border where theatre, visual art and self-awareness meet. Where images hit hardest. Where images go directly to the heart. This show is on tour with stops at the Wexner Arts Center (Columbus, Ohio), the Art Institute of Chicago, Seattle’s On the Boards, the Walker Arts Center (Minneapolis), and Montclair University in New Jersey.

Actor, producer, author and visual artist Romeo Castellucci, described by some as the European Robert LePage, comes to the theatre from the fields of painting and scenography. The productions of the Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio, founded in 1981 by Castellucci and his sister Claudia and Chiara Guidi, are primarily visual experiences. Their brute force has been lauded at major festivals and earned many international awards including a best foreign production Masque Award in Montreal for Orestea, presented at the Festival des Amériques in 1997.www.raffaellosanzio.org.

Tickets $36/$30
Theatre at UBC Box Office
604.822.2678

Student rush tickets available only at the door on the night of the performance: $20
This show is eligible for PuSh Pass access with a $7.50 surcharge

Are you a PuSh Passholder? Book your tickets
here.

If you like this, PuSh also recommends:
small metal objects or The Black Rider