Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1178032
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 OCTOBER 2019 9 CULTURE THEATRE IN the framework of the Settimana della Lingua Italiana organised by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura la Val- letta, Mana Chumo Teatro is bring- ing to Malta an adaptation to English of Come un granello di sabbia (Like a grain of sand) by Salvatore Arena and Massimo Barilla. At the age of 18, Giuseppe Gulotta, a young construction worker with a life like many others, is arrested and forced to confess to the murder of two policemen in "Alkamar", in small barracks in the province of Trapani. The crime hides an unspeakable mystery: secret services and states- men who deal with neo-fascist groups, arms trafficking and drugs. In order to cover up the silence, any scapegoat would do. Gulotta lived 22 years locked up in jail for a crime he did not commit and 36 years of legal hell. He never escaped. He struggled head high, remain- ing there "come un granello di sab- bia" (like grain of sand) in an infernal spiral until he obstinately sought and obtained revision process (the tenth one of a long series) when he was de- finitively rehabilitated. It is a story with dark and tormented outlines, with violently dramatic con- sequences that cannot be restored. For what Giuseppe Gulotta lived, protagonist of this story in spite of himself, but also for the experiences of the other various victims, address- ing these events on stage is a great responsibility. Of course, the responsibility of speaking up about this incredible legal affair, the long series of omis- sions, errors, flippancy, falsifications, clear violations of the law that make these events, a true and real judicial fraud. However, it is mainly the respon- sibility of adapting the playwriting through the "human" story of Gi- useppe (but also those of Salvatore and Carmine – the two victims of the massacre – or those of Giovanni, Vincenzo, Gaetano – the other des- ignated scapegoats) to give justice to its personal dimension, that of a life nearly entirely taken away for dread- ful reasons. The challenge is to trigger a process of identification, even without having been through what he has endured, without having experienced his suf- fering with an incredible sense of dignity and awareness. This perfor- mance tries to make this short circuit narrative avoiding any rhetorical in- tent. Giuseppe's voice attracts us in this vortex telling us, as if for the first time he has found someone willing to listen, the story of his interrupted youth, his arrest, torture, the guilty silences, the prejudices but also the unshakeable resolute hope in a final restitution of his own humble and high identity. He does it by alternating with sec- ondary but necessary voices: an en- lightened vice police commissioner also crushed by this mechanism, the police officer coordinating the ac- tions of torture (an overturned, lucid and not at all tormented Kurz), his wife Michela, the parents. Every voice, every episode of the vortex, finds place within the light and oppressive scenography of Aldo Zucco, capable of becoming multi- faceted through its few but important signs. The original music of Luigi Poli- meni, rhythmic and emotional counterpoint to the story, becomes dramaturgy itself, supporting the inexorable flow of the story in all its emotional scores. Mana Chumo Teatro is a contem- porary theatre company managed by Massimo Barilla and Salvatore Arena, mainly engaged in social theatre and new dramaturgy. Come un granello di sabbia is its latest production and was among the winners of the prestigious Premio Se- lezione In-box 2016. Mana Chuma represented the Ital- ian narration theatre at the Fête du livre et des cultures italiennes in Par- is. Three of its original works were translated into French as part of the promotion of Italian dramaturgy by the Maison Antoine Vitez and pre- sented in various forms in Paris and in Brussels. Other works have been finalists for the Ustica Theatre Award and the Riccione Award. 'Like a grain of sand is being staged at the Valletta Campus theatre at 8.30pm on 26 October. The play is produced in collabora- tion with Teatru Malta, Arts Council Malta, University of Malta - School of Performing Arts. Tickets are available at https:// www.kultura.mt/en/events/like-a- grain-of-sand-NDUx Like a grain of sand Giuseppe Gulotta spent 22 years locked up in jail for a crime he did not commit and 36 years of legal hell ... he never escaped Since 2002, Salvatore Arena is the co-director of Mana Chuma Teatro, developing, with Massimo Barilla, a research path between 'other' forms of narration and new dramaturgy'