The play suggests an interesting semantic juxtaposition between the remains of Lucania’s ancestral identity, connected to popular religion, and the demands for contemporary production, in the context of the quest for the other hidden ‘black divinity,' the Madonna.

Traditional music and pilgrim songs, adapted and rearranged for medieval instruments, and a few, linear scenographic elements are the framework to a ‘visionary storytelling’ that intersects past and future, premonitions and sacred mythologies, mixes genres and styles, popular satire and refined musical taste, and reintroduces the concept of naive to convey an intensely compassionate show.

The original play is a re-elaboration of the oral narratives of the old women of Viggiano around the topic of women’s devotion and the story of the pilgrimage itself, which for centuries has gathered throngs of pilgrims to Viggiano, especially during the month of September when Mary’s statue is carried from the mount down to the village.

The play was first presented and acclaimed in Lucca in September 2009, at the Primo Festival I Teatri del Sacro 2009 organized by Federgat ACEC and ETI.

Free entrance

Written and directed by Caterina Pontrandolfo with Caterina Pontrandolfo, Giuliana De Donno (‘arpicella’), Elisa Fighera (lyre, vielle), Mauro Basilio (vielle, oud, frame drum)

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