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Published: July 23rd 2006
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Wall art
Graffiti everywhere here. Not Basquiat, not gangsta. . . Well, I finally made it to Ravenna! It’s a really lovely town. I had a super early train that I was a tad too early for- so early that the subway wasn’t open yet and I had to walk to the train station- under a mile, so no problem. But, I made it just fine and made my train change on time and got here, to Ravenna around 10:30 AM. I asked a cabbie where my hotel was. Only 50 meters away, great!
So, I headed towards the hotel, promptly passed the street and had to ask someone else. Luckily, my understanding of Italian is getting pretty good, and I found my hotel soon after. However, well, have you ever walked into somewhere, hotel or college or anywhere, really, and thought “Oh, this is not good” the moment you entered? Well, I did just that when I walked into Albergo al Giaciglio. But, I decided to give it a shot,after all, the photos online were nice, right? Romantic little ristorante, good little caffé, right? NON. It was dirty, and hot and frightening, and the shower that I took made my skin break out from all the bleach in the bottom
Hotel Roma
Park's hotel, which is right across the street from my new one. of the stall. Soooo, I went to find Park after his rehearsal, now on the verge of tears because I’d been wandering around alone, and I was hungry and I wanted to see familiar face. I thought it’d b ok if i could just see Park. So, i found him, and we went to get some lunch. We had salada caprese (mozzarella, capers, olive oil and tomatoes), salada tono (tuna, sweet corn and cabbage) and paninis, which was all super cheap and fantastico. Afterwards, I took him to see the hotel. Now, when I say dirty, I don’t just mean that someone elses trash was in the room and there were dirty towels everywhere. I mean, hair in the sink, mud on the floor dirty. Park took me to the tourist info office close by and we booked another hotel, incidentally right across the street from his! It’s clean and cool and only smells a little funky (like you do in Europe) and includes an amazing breakfast of juice and cappuccinos and espressos and brioches. The staff speaks little to no english, so I’ve been forced to get better at Italian. I am doing pretty well.
Last night
Russi countryside
One the way to see Ur Hamlet on Thursday! I took a bus for 3€out to a town called Russi. It’s maybe 15 miles outside of Ravenna. The country side is stunning. House after house with old couples sitting at plastic dinette sets eating or playing cards or smoking or staring (like you do in Europe). They all had a garden and some kind of small chicken coop or animal area. Almost completely self sustained. Lovely, and very different from my life in the States. It was spectacular, and I mean that it was spectacle after spectacle for about an hour. The design and layout were stunning. My bus arrived at the top of a long, narrow road lined with houses like the ones I mention. Tiny yet fat and beautiful, women peered over their gates at the passing autobus di turisti. We stopped short of a crowd of people and I walked to pick up my ticket to the Odin Teatret’s Ur Hamlet. It was performed at Piazza Giacomo, a startlingly beautiful manor in Russi as a part of the Ravenna Festival that is currently in the works. The place was packed with every kind of spectator imaginable. Older couples and young groups of friends waiting, fairly patiently
San Giacomo
The front of the manor, Palazzo san Giacomo. to find their seats. However, when 9:45 rolled around we were ready to go. The performance was supposed to start at 9:30. About 5 til 10, they opened the flood gates and people fairly stampeded to the arena. The noise in the gravel was deafening and communicated our excitement better than any language. We seated ourselves in about five different sets of bleachers set up on three quarters of an arena area. There were platforms with chairs and musical instruments and tall gold banners that curved in towards us at the top. Also, red lanterns behind glass fishbowl like things stood unlit all around the stage. About 10:15, the last late comers finally ambled to their seats, the performers took their places and the light dimmed. The lanterns were lit, and spectacle after spectacle unfolded the story of Amleto. The story comes from the text Ur Hamlet, which was the source material for Shakespeare’s play. Balinese dancers, Japanese Noh performers, Afro-brazilian dancers and musicians from everywhere you can imagine headed up a cast of 101 performers, which also happened to include Park and about forty students, scholars, performers and artists who either applied, auditioned or, like Park, were invited back
San Giacomo 2
Waiting to see the show. There was a real electricity in the air, excitement and anticipation. after participating in some improv work last year with the Odin. I won’t explain the performance totally, because some of you might see it,and the Odin is all about surprises, but I will call it spectacular in the most literal sense of the word. For those of you who don’t know The Odin, you can Google it, and some pretty concise explanations will come up. Eugenio Barba, director and founder of the Odin, is sort of a God to the Italian people. When he came to take his seat, the crowd was filled with whispers of ‘Barba, si, Barba, Barba, questo? Si! Barba, la.’ And off we went, into the world of feigned insanity, incest, plague and Afro-Brazilian dance!
Park and I went to the beach today on his half day off and we stopped at a mercata on the way to buy some lunch. I was fantastico! Italian this and poco of that and una, due, tre, we were outta there with some pomodori (tomatoes) and carrottes (can you guess?) and salami (duh) and formaggio (cheese) and cioccolato (chocolate) and a Kinder Egg to boot. A Kinder egg is this awesome kids treat that has some candy in
Julia's birthday
Julia Varley (Odin company member) had a birthday to remember! There was something of a barter, gifts of performance a plenty. We danced and sang and had a grand time. What a life! one side and a toy surprise in the other. I got a wooly mammoth toy from Ice Age 2. So, I’ll be taking pictures all over Europe with my newly purchased friend. The beach was beautiful, though much more commercial than we had envisioned. There were tons of chairs and umbrellas and families everywhere. Ravenna is something of a resort town, so there were people from all over the EU there for some beach time.
I am more and more excited each day about my training. I have been invited to go to Brzezinka (the Grotowski Center’s forest base camp) a day early to help get ready. And the night before I will stay with Justyna, who has been coordinating this workshop on the Polish end. Which, will not only save me money, but allow me to pick out the best bed! That’s important in the forests of Poland. Having seen the Odin’s work, I feel like I am beginning to understand what can make up a performance. And Tagé Larsen, who is a member of the Odin, will be teaching the last portion of my workshop. So, I will get another perspective on this type of work very
Opening night
In the midst of la bella via. soon after having seen it.
More soon. I am having some trouble finding internet cafe’s but will continue to look.
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john h pilling
non-member comment
way better
than getting postcards 2 weeks later