Step aside, Adam and Eve, here comes a new version of
creation.
Romeo Castellucci directs the Societas Raffaello Sanzio
group’s “Genesi: From the Museum of Sleep,”
loosely based on the biblical book of Genesis, which reveals a
different view of creation.
Born in Cesena, Italy, a small town in the mountains,
Castellucci was trained in visual arts. According to the
Castellucci, most of his plays are sensation plays and attempt to
elicit reactions from the audience members.
“I see practicing visual arts as an adventure ““ a
desire to represent something,” said Castellucci from his
home in Italy, translated by Emanuela Boni. “I love my visual
work production. From visual arts, I transitioned into theater by
accident and it became my job without me even knowing
it.”
Castellucci’s “Genesi” capitalizes on his
signature visuals. Dividing the play into three different acts
titled “At the Beginning,” “Auschwitz” and
“Abel and Cain,” Castellucci couples visuals and silent
theater in all scenes.
“The ultimate purpose of a play should not be to give an
interpretation to the audience, but rather let them create their
own interpretation,” Castellucci said. “By enticing
their visuals, they are able to make their own interpretations and
not be forced into thinking something.”
The three sections aim to detail creation in complex ways. In
“At the Beginning,” Castellucci depicts the start of
creation when Marie Curie discovers the thrilling power of
radiation while Lucifer is banished into the chaos of the forming
world.
“Auschwitz,” the second act, is a hypnotic
otherworld where people are lulled to their fateful ends by
sentimental music.
Finally, in “Abel and Cain,” the audience
experiences the first human homicide.
“The Genesis is a powerful metaphor for creation ““
the actual act of creating,” Castellucci said. “My play
is not a way of narrating episodes, but rather showing one
artist’s reaction to the (biblical) book.”
The play’s visual stimulation is furthered through the
cast members. Using physically “deformed” characters in
the play, Castellucci aims to show the inner beauty of people. He
employs actors such as midgets, anorexics and disabled people.
“It’s an interesting technique to use people
that’ll intrigue people to the point where they can’t
look away,” said Olivia McManus, a second-year student in
musical theater. “It’ll definitely make them pay
attention even more to see how the characters interact
together.”
Though many cast members have obvious physical deformities,
Castellucci sees these deformities as a form of “archaic
beauty” that has been forgotten. According to him, it
wasn’t his choice to choose these characters; the play called
for them and needed a diverse cast.
According to Castellucci, though the Bible starts with creation
in Genesis and ends with death in Apocalypse, as obviously
different as these two books are, they both touch each other and
become one in the end.
“The Bible is a book of pure energy,” Castellucci
said. “It’s almost brutal and carnal energy that
transforms itself into human energy on the stage.”
Influenced by everyone from Vasquez and Rembrandt to Stanley
Kubrick and ancient Sumerian artists, Castellucci’s hopes to
make the audience react in a way where they come out thinking on a
different level.
“Only the viewer can say what’s happening on stage;
it takes place in every audience member’s mind,”
Castellucci said. “It’s a universal book ““ and in
the book there’s a universal underlying skeleton of feelings
that belongs to everyone.”
THEATER: “Genesi: From the Museum of Sleep” is at
UCLA’s Freud Playhouse Oct. 4-6, Friday-Saturday, 8 p.m.;
Sunday 7 p.m. Tickets for students are $13; general admission is
$40. For more information go to www.uclalive.com or call (310)
825-2101.