In a very personal sense, Romeo Castellucci constantly stands on the edge of things – current events, the artistic avant-garde, his art itself. “Each new work is a new meeting. Every time I look for a surprise, which is not a simple curiosity, but an existential necessity. I have to take myself out of safety, make my life difficult. Not surprisingly, however, theater is just an iterative process,” he says.

In an interview organized by the Onassis Foundation on the occasion of the upcoming production of Bros, Castellucci speaks to us from his office at the Teatro Comandini in Cesena. This is the city where he was born 62 years ago, although he is now a resident of Europe. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and, as he explains, the theater was never his choice. “My studies were in art history, but all of a sudden I started doing theater. In fact, I prefer other means of expression, fine arts, cinema, literature. Here, too, I have ambivalence. And anxiety. I’m still not sure what I’m doing.”

His creative and existential anxieties clearly do not limit his creativity. They probably encourage her as she has been very productive for many years. His productions are regularly invited and staged as productions at the most notable international theater and lyrical stages and festivals, in 60 countries around the world. He was awarded the title of Chevalier of Arts and Letters of the French Republic and an honorary doctorate from the University of Bologna, is a member of the Royal Academy of Belgium and, among other international awards, received the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale and two Golden Masks for his work in the lyric theater.

honest doubts

“The theater is the only place where violence can be therapeutic,” says the director of Bros.

Nevertheless, he is present, and doubts about his work are sincere. He tries to express his complex philosophical thought in English, which makes his work difficult, but never for a moment stops repeating what torments him: “I always start with an idea and then try to find contact with the audience. And then I want to disappear behind my idea. Because the theme in every show is not me: my poor childhood, for example, or my fears. The point is to find a meaning that transcends our personality. For me, the theater is still a kindled fire burning in the cave of primitive people. It should keep us conscious, awake. The hero of the ancient Greek tragedy is everyone, therefore it is addressed to everyone.

Just two months earlier, in July, Castellucci had presented Gustav Mahler’s Resurrection in thoughtful and profound action at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. At the first reading, the work was about the refugee drama that we have been experiencing in recent years. Similarly, we could say Bros is about police brutality, and some might think it’s a comment on recent cases of violent government crackdowns. Twenty men on stage, dressed in police uniforms, have only one goal: to obey the orders they receive through headphones throughout the performance. There is no room for improvisation here. Except for one, no one is an actor and the play is not rehearsed. At a meeting the day before, twenty “cops” sign an agreement on subservience to the director-law, perpetrators and victims, and their role as an “organ” to enforce order.

“The theater is the only place where violence can be therapeutic,” says the director. “The blood of the stage frees us from real blood. The performance speaks in a metaphorical language, it is an allegory with an anthropological content. Theater is radical not because it is political, but because it goes beyond the representation of reality, opening up another dimension to our thinking. I don’t believe in art activism, it’s too stereotyped. The theme of order and disorder, obedience and disobedience to the law is deeply philosophical and excites mankind for centuries. Think of it as an experiment that doesn’t criticize or provide answers.”

Bros, Onassis Foundation building, from September 28 to October 2.