Patrick Rossano
The whole world of theatre, as well as that of cinema and entertainment is suffering from a very serious crisis due to the Coronavirus. Keeping people physically away from culture, from places of knowledge, history and memory, is not and can never be a positive sign. It can be accepted only and limitedly for the time of the emergency, thinking about how, in the meantime, not to lose contact with the public. Against this background we read the appeal made yesterday by the world of theater addressed to Rai to "help in this period of forced closure of theaters throughout the country to keep close to the public who recognize themselves in the fundamental function of theatrical art and could win a new audience at the time of the desirable reopening of the cinemas ... Optimal would be the broadcasting of a theatrical reprise every day in your thematic channels and at least once a week in the generalist ones for the entire period of the Pandemic ".
Again in this context, the initiative of the Silvan All Globe Theatre with the opening of the Archive on line of all the precious activity carried out by what arose in Rome in the splendid setting of Villa Borghese, in 2003, conceived and artistically directed by Gigi Proietti. The archive was created in collaboration with the Multimedia Center of Department of Foreign Languages, Literature and Cultures of the Roma Tre University.
First of all, a note of context: at a time when people are induced, forced, to stay at home, to keep themselves separate and distant from each other, that there are people who maintain their resolution to return soon to live entertainment, participation, to the theater as a form of expression that inevitably requires the presence of its protagonists, actors and audience, on stage and in the audience, is an initiative that deserves all possible support. Then, on the merits, a theater archive (in particular the Shakespearean one like the one in which the All Globe Theatre) is itself, in a sense, part of the theatrical performance. In fact, it is a question of making a historical and artistic heritage accessible, universal and usable to the general public, not only the prerogative of scholars and specialists.
Theatre, as is well known, is an event which by its nature experiences its prevailing specificity in the immediacy of its use/participation by the spectator, in the emotions it arouses in the moment and in the place where it takes place. In the new dimension assumed by the world of audiovisual communication, characterized by completely new forms, models and languages compared to the past, it would be desirable that the theater too could project itself towards these new perspectives. The problems and limitations imposed by copyright on artistic works are well known, just as it is known that attempts are made from many sides to resolve the obstacles it imposes. From this point of view, the archive of the All Globe Theatre could explore new ways to make it more "substantial" and more usable in its precious contents. It is a matter of extending its territories towards new forms and contents, where its audience is no longer only Roman, so why not try to imagine, just these days even an experimental form of “streaming theater” exactly made within the beautiful setting of its headquarters in Villa Borghese? It could be an important signal capable of projecting the Toti Globe Theater experience even beyond the perimeter of its phenomenal and unique scenic setting.
