Karin in the realm of shadows: Romeo Castellucci | Orfeo ed Euridice by C.W. Gluck

In Orpheus and Eurydice, the condition of paralysis itself is not the result of an artistic technique, but a real human condition which Castellucci brings from darkness to light, i.e. to the centre of the community’s attention. A two-way communication between myth and the reality of the spectator takes place, a steady stream flows from one to the other. In the case of Karin, the disease, as an external, visible condition is transformed into a carrier of true communication with the spectator. Castellucci brings to the surface a body that was enclosed and imprisoned in the hospital – Elysium fields, in such a way that Orpheus’ love corresponds to that of the family, doctors and care-givers who daily relieve Eurydice’s ‘imprisonment’.

Eleni Papalexiou, “Romeo Castellucci or the Visionary of the non-Visual”, in: The Great Stage Directors: Pina Bausch, Romeo Castellucci, Jan Fabre, (edited by Luk Van den Dries & Timmy De Laet), London: Bloomsbury Methuen. Forthcoming.

Photo by Luca Del Pia