the show

What if Alexander the Great had actually been a foreshadowing of Europe? In other words, what if he had anticipated the contradiction between the desire for conquest and the curiosity for otherness, which are at the basis of the historical restlessness of the so-called European civilization, a civilization which has always been divided between the angst of conquest, which destroys, and the apprehension of knowledge, which preserves?

Mattia Cason and Alessandro Conte have been doing research for many years starting from this suggestion. The first result of this  research was a performance called “Etiopjke/Le Etiopiche” (winner of the 2021 Scenario Award). This performance was focused on the arrival of Alexander the Great in Asia and his clash with Memnon of Rhodes, a Greek mercenary commander at the Persians’ service. It was imagined as the precursor of a new, but at the same time very ancient idea: that of an Afro-Asiatic Europe. An idea that Alexander would make his own only at the end of his adventures.

“On the Paths to Europe” is born from the essential themes of “Etiopjke/Le Etiopiche”, in particular it connects the rediscovery of the European civilization’s Afro-Asian roots with contemporary migrations, suggested as a precious opportunity for us Europeans to truly understand who we are.

The dramaturgical plot of this new performance is centered on Mattia and Alessandro’s encounter with Muhammad'Abd al-Mun'im, a publisher, writer and poet from Aleppo who was forced to abandon Syria because of his opinions against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Muhammad's latest novel, “Ala Durūbi Awrūba” / “On the Paths to Europe", narrates the story of how he escaped from Syria and his journey to Ljubljana, beyond Turkey, the Aegean Sea and the Balkans. This book makes up the initial inspiration for the performance, along with an ancient 15th century text called Sirat al-Iskandar wa mā fihā min al-'Ajā'ib wa 'l-Gharā'ib / “The story of Alexander and the wonderful things it contains”, which narrates the adventures (in part historical, but mostly fantastic) of Alexander in Africa and Asia. Starting from these writings, an interlacing of stories, symbols and echoes take place that the audience will follow in different languages - from Friulian to Amharic, from ancient Greek to Arabic, from Persian to the language of dance.

The astonished gaze of these three anarchists recalls the adventures of Alexander and the history of Europe, trying to re-collect how originally it too was different, foreign, so wonderfully foreign as to remind us of those who still cross the sea today in an attempt to reach Europe.

But it's not just the people on the stage who do this: along with them, standing by their side, the whole audience will find themselves hoping, sometimes even believing, that curiosity and the wonder that it produces can really be a first step to take the individual beyond identity, society beyond the nation and Europe beyond itself.

Il centro drammaturgico di questo nuovo spettacolo è l’incontro di Mattia e Alessandro con Muhammad‘Abd al-Mun’im, un editore, scrittore e poeta di Aleppo costretto ad abbandonare la Siria per le sue opinioni avverse al regime di Bashar al-Assad. L’ultimo romanzo di Muhammad si intitola Ala Durūbi Awrūba / Sui sentieri per l’Europa: racconta della sua fuga dalla Siria e del viaggio fino a Ljubljana, oltre la Turchia, l’Egeo e i Balcani. Insieme alla Sirat al-Iskandar wa mā fihā min al-'Ajā'ib wa ‘l-Gharā’ib / La biografia di Alessandro e ciò che in essa vi è di strano e meraviglioso, un antico testo del XV secolo che narra le avventure (in parte storiche ma per lo più fantastiche) di Alessandro in Africa e Asia, costituisce lo spunto iniziale e dà il via all’intreccio di storie, simbologie ed echi che viene proposto al pubblico in più lingue -  dal friulano all'amarico, dal greco antico al persiano - e attraverso diversi linguaggi - teatro, danza, filmati e letture.

Così l’occhio meravigliato dei tre protagonisti in scena ripercorre le avventure di Alessandro e la storia d’Europa cercando di ri-cor-dare come in origine anch’essa fosse altra, diversa, straniera, così meravigliosamente straniera da assomigliare a chi tutt’oggi varca il mare per raggiungerla. 

Ma non sono solo i protagonisti in scena, a farlo: tutto il pubblico, insieme a loro, si trova a sperare, addirittura a credere che la curiosità, e la meraviglia a seguirla, possano essere un primo passo per portare l’individuo oltre l’identità, la società oltre la nazione e l’Europa oltre se stessa.