Photos by Massimiliano Mascagni

łukasz boratyński

Cinderella

BEST NEW AWARD
Eolo Awards 2022 (Italy)

BEST ACTORS AWARD
35th Int. Theatre Festival VALISE - Lomza (Poland)

GRAND PRIX for BEST SHOW
BEST DIRECTOR AWARD
BEST ACTORS AWARD
29th International Children's Theatre Festival 2022 Subotica (Serbia)

PRODUCTION AWARD
BandoToscana Terra Accogliente 2020 curated by RAT (Residenze Artistiche Toscane)

Show tout public recommended for ages 5 and up

Direction, dramaturgy, choreography Luana Gramegna
Scenes, lights, costumes, masks and puppets Francesco Givone
Sound project and original music Stefano Ciardi
With Gianluca Gabriele, Amalia Ruocco, Enrica Zampetti
Collaboration for scenes, masks and puppets Alessia Castellano
Collaboration for dramaturgy Daria Menichetti
Costume design Rachele Ceccotti
Technical direction Alberto Bartolini - Service Officina Teatro
Project manager Enrica Zampetti

Production Zaches Teatro
with the support of MIC, Regione Toscana, Teatro Fonderia Leopolda di Follonica
and Giallo Mare Minimal Teatro

in collaboration with
Fondazione Teatro Metastasio, Fondazione Toscana Spettacolo onlus,
Centro di Produzione della Danza Virgilio Sieni

artistic residencies at
Teatro Fonderia Leopolda, Officine della Cultura, Kanterstrasse, Murmuris,
Kinkaleri, Teatro Caos

Zaches Theatre delves into the universe of the famous Cinderella fairy tale to construct the latest show in the Fairy Tale Trilogy, which also includes Pinocchio and Little Red Riding Hood.

Such a Trilogy is not just a series of three performances, but a broader and more jagged project through which the Company brings to life parallel creative and educational projects that feed into the performances themselves. The aim is to investigate the world of fairy tales and tales of oral tradition with the intention of going as far back in time as possible, to discover those details that have been little by little sweetened, forgotten or erased by more recent versions. Modern society has forgotten its roots, and fairy tales represent the last fragments of that forgotten world. Reconstructing the roots means recovering one's identity, which turns out to belong to a much wider pool than we are used to thinking, a vast space beyond the borders of today's nation-states.

From ashes to court, Cinderella is a heroine of many faces and the architect of her own destiny. Having become an extremely popular reference in our culture, she has increasingly come to symbolize the redemption of the oppressed.
A widespread fairy tale of which there are more than three hundred variants in the world Cinderella represents perhaps one of the oldest fairy tales on Earth. In this kaleidoscope of fairy tale faces, however, it seems almost impossible to be able to consider which is "the real Cinderella."

In our research and reconstruction on Cinderella, we decided to focus on the study of the oldest oral versions and two literary versions: that of the Grimm brothers and that of Basile's La Gatta Cenerentola.

The scene, realistic and symbolic at the same time, is occupied by a large hearth filled with smoke and soot:
a gaunt, ashy, coal-filled space inhabited by sprites, the Cinderines, through whom the story of Cinderella is told.
But more than a story about finding Prince Charming, Zaches Teatro's Cinderella is an initiatory fairy tale in which the difficult road to maturity passes through detachment from the past.

Recluded in her inner world, Cinderella prefers to move beneath the ashes in solitude, almost invisible amid the soot of a seemingly dull life, patiently accepting every punishment inflicted by her stepmother and stepsisters.
But within her burns the hidden embers of desire for a completely different existence.
Little by little Cinderella gains confidence and courage, learns to face adversity and is no longer afraid to stand up to her tormentors, who gradually find themselves more and more disarmed and helpless. It will be Cinderella's inner strength that will redeem her.
Using object theater, dance, expressive movement, original music and the languages of figure theater, the bodies of the performers bring the characters of the story to life in a whirlwind show full of invention, animated by strange presences between the funny and the grotesque, with a strong visual impact.

Manipulation becomes dance, and dance evokes the ancient presence of initiatory ritual under the ashes of the fairy tale.