ABOUT THE SHOW
All fairy tales in Brazil end with the words: “they got married and lived happily ever after”. In real life, it’s not that simple…
Driving a vintage car, a couple fresh out of the wedding ceremony faces a breakdown along the way.
Faced with the first challenge of their married life, they look for a solution that will not come until they regain the sense of being in it together.
In Felici per Sempre the actors play between reality and the absurd, creating a gestural dialogue between clowning, physical theater and acrobatics.
The car becomes a metaphor for love relationships, made up of breakdowns, departures and pushes, often in the wrong direction.
A man and a woman, discovering that happiness is not a promise but an achievement.
A production that is outlined with simplicity, delicacy and absurdity, like a visual poem.
RESEARCH PROJECT
The project began around an old car, a 1952 Topolino Giardinetta Belvedere, a source of inspiration and of infinite opportunities for imaginary and physical experimentation. The characters constantly interact with the car during the show.
The hardness of the car body contrasts with the romanticism of its design. It is a car that carries the lightness of dreams and the weight of bodies. A perfect stage for a street show. A vehicle that transports lovers. The perfect theme for our show.
We started to experiment with the various possibilities of trying to fix the car, and reacting to all the conflicts that followed. We then added a study on the exploration of matter as space and object of the scene.
The work was initially based on free improvisation around the theme of marriage. The research focused on possible relational and role dynamics, on the gestures and postures of each character as the newlyweds face the first unforeseen events of their lives together. As we played, we found characters with their contrasts and connections, starting from the classic posture of a man and a woman dealing with a car that breaks down in a moment of great euphoria and happiness.
The clown figure remains in the background for these characters that seem to be seem to be natural and simple, but are, in essence, crazy and absurd.
DATASHEET
Creation, interpretation and direction: Flavia Marco and André Casaca
Co-production: Teatro C’art (Italy) and Teatro do Sopro (Brazil)
Duration: 35 minutes (in the case of a festival, it can be played twice)
Scenic Space: squares, patio and any space accessible by car, with flat floor without hills. (Around 10 X 6m, 3m clearance)
Audio: independent
Light: For night performances, the stage space should be well lit.
Technique: Clown, Dance, Visual Comedy, Non-Verbal
Show suitable for all audiences
PRESS REVIEW
Magazine: Scene Contemporanee
Absolutely fresh and with a completely different flavor is Felici per Sempre by and with the talented Flavia Marco and André Casaca. A vintage car becomes theater and stage for a relationship with all its ups and downs; thus the skirmishes of a couple on their honeymoon translate into acrobatics and somersaults, kisses and teasing. An ironic testimony, between physical theater, clowning and acrobatics, on how marriage is a continuous compromise to achieve the much desired happiness.
By Roberta Leo
Magazine: Locacritica
Flavia Marco and André Casaca assemble the entire show around a automobile Topolino Giardinetta Belvedere from 1952, but also inside, above, below, mounted and upside down. Only a hard and constant training can give the the illusion of easy of daring acrobatics that surprise and amuse an audience of all ages, who follow with bated breath, dances, adventures, misadventures and obsessions.
The soundtrack, the situations narrated only with perfectly studied gestures and the caricatured expressions of the two performers paint reality in black and white, drawing the viewer into a true silent film.
The plot manages to become a metaphor for the complexity of life as a couple, with its difficulties, disagreements, moments of joy, love and the long-awaited Happily Ever After.
By Vanessa Zecchi
