The Italian Educational Institute of Athens, In collaboration with Italian School of Athens, Parnassos Philological Association and its Art and Speech Laboratory of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, on Sunday January 22 presented the show in Karytsi Square, at the historical headquarters of the Philological Association
The Iliad or the ransom of Priam
with his Sicilian puppets Association
Figli d'Arte Cuticchio of Palermo.
Our own long and special history of the shadow theater of Karagiozis was practically paralleled on stage with the equally long and special tradition of the folk puppet theater of Sicily, the Teatro dei pupi as it is called, last Sunday night, on 23/1/2023 , in the event hall of the Parnassos Philological Association.
The Greek-speaking audience (with the support of surtitles) and the Italian-speaking Athenian audience, who suffocated the event hall of the Association, had the opportunity to enjoy an excellent show, with the famous Sicilian puppets, a show designed for a big stage.
In fact, for the play "The Iliad or the Ransoms of Priam" new puppets were created, based on the characters of the Greek and Trojan heroes, as befits the charismatic Mimmo Cuticchio, the man behind this unique performance. The son of an itinerant puppeteer, who was born in Gela, the ancient Greek colony of Sicily, he founded in 1977 the Associazione Figli d'Arte Cuticchio and (twenty years later) in 1997, in Palermo, the first school for puppeteers, where he has been organizing workshops on puppetry storytelling ever since. It is not by chance, then, that Mimmo Cuticchio has been awarded many prizes, among which, in 2022, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Università Roma Tre.
Mimmo Cuticchio, with his specific proposal, further expanded the classical repertoire of pupi siciliani, obviously maintaining the rules of tradition, i.e. improvisation above all, he deliberately created new correspondences, new contrasts and semantic features, making us see the old ones myths to radiate in new, creative ways.
And this given that the Teatro dei pupi is inextricably intertwined with the Sicilian tradition which, until a few decades ago, was part of everyday life in the towns and villages of the island. The adventures of the characters created the imagination of the Sicilian people, as they represented stories originating from the epic-chivalric literature of medieval origin, with particular reference to the Carolingian cycle (literary set starting from the historical figures of Charlemagne and Roland, their co-warriors and enemies), with witches, evil spirits, wild and warlike knights, and apparently Moorish conquerors.
The theater of the marionette in general and the Sicilian pupi in particular, represents in its own special way the living body, since the marionettes have greater vitality, agility, symmetry: the perfect movement, the vitality of the characters, the perfection and the successive detailed movements, a result of the excellent handling by its experienced partners Associazione Figli d'Arte Cuticchio, conquered the Athenian public, through the stories that were rendered in this particular style and the narration and rendering of the lives of those who took place in Troy or, more correctly, their fictional transcendence. By seeing this show of Sicilian puppets, the Athenian audience was able to experience the magic and power of Sicilian puppetry and enjoy it in a Greek themed show.
Although their origins are folk, puppets have fortunately been reduced to a distinct form of "high" art in terms of both their construction and their performance. Both the museum of Syracuse and the museum of Palermo, which house pupi, have a particularly high number of visitors throughout the year.
The Teatro dei pupi dates back to the third decade of the 19th century and enjoyed particular success among the popular classes, being one of the most important expressions of Sicilian historical memory and cultural identity. In 2001 the Teatro dei pupi was declared by UNESCO as a property of the intangible, oral cultural heritage of humanity.
