cdare feminism have to do with it with ecology? «Today it is not enough to investigate the relationships of domination within our species: we must deal with all those dynamics of oppression that our species applies on the others – considered inferior, exploitable – and on the planet, seen as a “stone” to be plundered» . Marta Cuscuna he will explain it effectively on stage with a “monologue for actress and puppets”: Earthbound (or the stories of the Camillas)a production Emilia Romagna Theatre, from 27 to 30 April at the Strehler in Milan.
“The future is Chthulucene”
Marta Cuscunà on the Carso (photo Masiar Pasquali).
The performer-playwright-director, associate artist of the Smallreturns to Milan after the solo show in 2022. There the common thread of the three shows was the “female resistance”: the first partisan relay, Ondina Peteani, in It’s good to live free!; the Poor Clares of Udine who transformed the convent into a bulwark of free thought in the sixteenth century Simplicity failsnnata; the myth of the peaceful matriarchal society of Fanes, ruined by the arrival of a king, in The song of the fall. This time the inspiration comes from Chthulucene (Black editions) by the American philosopher Donna Harawaywhich combines an essay with science fiction stories.
“Cthulucene”?
Haraway proposes this term for the new era instead of Anthropocene, which does not take into account the complexity and “places” on every human being, without distinction, the guilt of having upset the balance on Earth, when instead the native peoples, the poor, women, minorities cannot be held accountable to the same extent as those in power. And she also underlines that women are among the categories that particularly suffer the consequences, including economic ones, of the climate and environmental crisis.
How do you translate similar concepts on stage?
In a bare surface, the Earthboundhumans who have adapted to the uninhabitable atmosphere thanks to the symbiosis with their double animal…
Artificial intelligence
“Earthbound”?
It is a neologism coined by the sociologist and anthropologist Bruno Latour to indicate the relationship we should have with the earth in the future, a relationship of solidarity… The Earthbound, I was saying, manage to survive in a sort of bubble, a small biosphere and communicate through Gaia, a artificial intelligence (like Siri or Alexa), which however has a physical body: mine. I found the image of a near future in which our species joins forces with others to better care for the planet and save it.
Reproducing is the crux
Marta Cuscunà in “Earthbound” (photo Guido Mencari).
Any concrete suggestions?
The “node” is the reproduction: Haraway, who delves into the theme in Making kin. Making kinships, not populations (ed. Drive Approdi, ed), insists that it is not sustainable to reproduce so rapidly: resources are not unlimited. And he hopes that our grandchildren decide to have children in a conscious way and that every birth – rare and precious – is felt as a responsibility of the entire community.
Where does so much interest in eco-feminist battles come from?
I breathed a certain sensitivity in the family, but what determined the project of a trilogy of positive women’s stories was reading, in 2010, the investigation by the semiologist Giovanna Cosenza on why girls did not rebel as their mothers had done and their grandmothers. The answers of male and female students were gruesome: feminists were described as greedy for power, hysterical, aggressive.
Like her, the singer Elisa is also from Monfalcone, and she too is committed to women and the environment. Coincidence? Genius loci?
I don’t think it’s a coincidence. In our area we have had the example of strong female figures, starting from the Partisan Republic of Carnia, in which – for the first time in Italy – women had the right to vote. And, unfortunately, there was the question of Fincantieri and asbestos, not just a problem of pollution: here every family – including mine – has been affected by at least one death. My grandfather, the only survivor of his work team, was for a long time president of the Asbestos Exposed Association: for me he represented a great model of militancy.
Rejected at the audition
From an artistic point of view, however, the ancestry?
No precedent at home, but mine took me to the Festival delle Valli del Natisone, dedicated to puppet theater (the one that uses puppets, marionettes or puppets, ed): the imagination was formed there. In Monfalcone, then, there was a mini review of civil and contemporary theatre: those languages spoke to me more than classical prose. In the fourth year of high school, I enrolled in a free acting course held by the Municipality, held by Luisa Vermiglio. With her help, when it came to choosing a university (nothing fascinated me), I realized that dramatic art academies exist. I submitted to the audition at the Civica Scuola Paolo Grassi in Milan.
Departure!
No. They didn’t accept me. Initial panic. So I fell back on the Civica di Udine, from which, however, I was expelled.
Too subversive?
There was a strange rule that no work experience was allowed during schooling. But I had been hired by the Gorizia Animation and Figure Theater Center for a children’s show… No regrets, the best apprenticeship: you can’t cheat with little ones, or you know how to keep an audience or not. And that little nest egg earned allowed me to attend the summer courses of “Prima del Teatro”, near Pisa, where I met those masters who represented a turning point for me.
The robin Goofy
Marta Cuscunà in her laboratory in Monfalcone, Gorizia (photo Masiar Pasquali).
How?
José Sanchis Sinisterra (Spanish playwright and director, ed) encouraged me not to limit myself to the role of actress and to write my own lyrics. With Joan Baixas (Catalan director and puppeteer, ed) I understood that puppetry was my true vocation.
Di Baixas became assistant for Merma Neverdieswith puppets by Joan Mirò.
Crazy stuff! I passed by The Robin Goofy (Altan’s children’s story) in Italy at the Tate Modern in London. My independent journey began in 2009: with the budget of the Premio Scenario per Ustica I set up It’s good to live free!. I found myself having a lot of replies without even being structured to do them. Last fundamental step: inclusion in Fies Factory (the first incubator for Italian performing artists under 30, ed).
And now? Projects?
In May the trilogy will be presented at the International Puppet Biennial in Paris. On 22 July I will make my debut at the Trento Science Museum with Corvidae. Species looksa collection of scenes I had written for The Factory of the World, the Rai 3 broadcast by Marco Paolini and Telmo Pievani. And I continue the collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano.
“I don’t give in to robots”
Marta Cuscunà in her laboratory in Monfalcone, Gorizia (photo Masiar Pasquali).
With the Polytechnic?
Yes, I experiment with their wearable device prototypes. Some engineers from the robotics and artificial intelligence laboratory had seen me on stage and were intrigued by my refusal of automation: they wanted to understand what I’m looking for in manual maneuvering that I can’t find in robots.
Explain it to us as well.
(smiles) This is a point on which I clash with Paola (Paola Villani, the author of the “animatronic” figures, her regular collaborator together with the assistant director, Marco Rogante, ed): she loves motors and sometimes suggests adding them to the scene, I won’t give in.
Fear of technology?
No: I prefer the idea of amplifying human qualities through gadgets based simply on the principle of bicycle brakes. In short, I defend the will to move everything personally! Partly because I’m a centralizer (smiles)partly because I’m fascinated by the idea that the public is surprised by realizing that there is no trick, and discovers the potential of a voice, of a body.
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