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From a play by Roberta Calandra
DIVE
Directed by Mariano Lamberti
With Caterina Gramaglia, Mariano Gallo aka Priscilla, Marit Nissen, Tiziana Sensi
Friday 15th and Saturday 16th April 2022 at 9.00 pm
Sunday, April 17, 2022, 5:30 PM
Monday 18th, Tuesday 19th and Wednesday 20th April 2022 at 9:00 pm
Marconi Theater
Viale Guglielmo Marconi 698/E
Choreography Emiliano Perazzini, Assistant director Serena Raimondi, Costumes Valeria Ricca,
Lighting by Antonio Grambone, Music by Andrea Albanese, Visuals by Andrea Germoleo
A well-documented foray into Hollywood during the roaring 1930s, right up until the Haynes Code, featuring Sapphic love affairs in the closet, betrayal, loneliness, passion, censorship, and religion. Within the stifling climate of limitations imposed by the Haynes Code, unforgettable and extraordinary personalities develop, proving that the highest creativity can flourish by challenging the limits imposed by the conventions of the time.
At the center is the legendary Greta Garbo, around whom Mercedes De Acosta, Marlene Dietrich, and Cecil Beaton revolve.
Mariano Lamberti's directorial rewrite subverts the parameters of stardom, taking inspiration from the ballrooms typical of New York's underground culture of the 1980s, a time when the LGBTQ+ community, marginalized by social conditions and the incipient arrival of the HIV virus, had the opportunity to redeem itself by evoking the divas of the time.
To seal this unique stylistic choice, the director chose Mariano Gallo, aka Priscilla, to play a very unique Cecil Beaton. On stage, therefore, is Italy's most famous drag queen, who recently finished hosting the successful TV show. Drag Race Italy first on Discovery+ and then on RealTime.
On stage with Mariano Gallo, Tiziana Sensi as Greta Garbo, Marit Nissen as Marlene Dietrich, Caterina Gramaglia as Mercedes De Acosta.
As I write, I don't know when what I've conceived will be staged. At that time, there was an atmosphere of sexual persecution in Hollywood. Today, in this historical moment, I want to say that Dive is a story in which limits and restrictions test the exceptionality of a character, creating a unique personality. Roberta Calandra
Starting from Roberta Calandra's text, which sets the scene in the 1930s, I chose to update the work, adapting it to a 1980s ballroom. The reason for this choice stems from the height of HIV, a period in which the LGBT community, seeking refuge, gathered together in the bare spaces known as ballrooms. In these free and protected spaces, people had the opportunity to experience their moment of fame and visibility, redeeming a life of deprivation and illness. They drew inspiration from divas of all time, including Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo. At the center of the ballroom was a catwalk where they challenged each other with "vogue," a unique coded dance inspired by Egyptian hieroglyphics but updated and blended with 1980s street dance. Meanwhile, outside, the straight community gathered in gangs, challenging each other with knife attacks.
Just as the divas of the 1930s brought to the screen characters full of charm and magic, in which all women dreamed of identifying with that model of perfection, so drag queens brought that dream back to life, recreating those exceptional characters on the ballroom catwalks. But there's something that divas of the past and drag queens have even more in common: a private life often marked by addiction, poverty, and inadequacy. Mariano Lamberti