The challenge of a theatre as a practise of knowledge and relationship. Perfecting a practise of vision, in which the actor’s body and gesture, the sound of the spoken word take place poetically, bringing the viewers’ gaze into themselves. The constant quest for “other” places to set the scene, in the certainty that never so much as in this case has the theatre been a way of both investigating and of revealing the genius loci, by incessantly establishing and re-establishing communities. A theatre company formed in Lecce in 1981, Astràgali Teatro has, since its birth, combined production, training, and theatrical experimentation, while broadening its sphere of action over time with a segment specifically oriented towards designing and producing services for the theatre and culture. In a constant relationship with a network of international bodies in the area of the performing arts, cooperation, and intercultural dialogue, Astràgali Teatro has for years been a presence in the Mediterranean and the Near East, with theatre production and cultural cooperation projects. In this path, the relationship with the “language of others” has become an essential, bedrock part of its artistic experimentation – an element that has been the mark of its productions in recent years. From Ali- questo corpo questo fuoco a La Betissa, Nos-l’architettura degli amanti, Q Il cantico dei cantici per lingua madre, Le vie dei canti, Antigone- anatomia delle resistenza dell’amore, Doni di guerra, Persae, and Lysistrata- Primo studio sull’oscenità del potere, to the more recent Divenire animale, Veli, and Metamorfosi, the work on the shows has been both a constant investigation of the present and a search for the origins of theatre, considered a bottomless reservoir of images and suggestions. Through its investigation of tragedy and ancient comedy, Astràgali Teatro has brought to centre stage crucial questions connected with conflicts, violence, migrations, and the political boundaries that forcibly divide peoples and cultures. It is a philosophy that has at the same time been the mark of Astràgali Teatro’s artistic residence in Lecce’s Teatro Paisiello, with a project embarked on in 2010 and still in progress. Albania, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, Cyprus, Turkey, Tunisia, Brazil. Doing theatre in places of conflict has been characteristic of most of the international projects and productions in recent years – efforts that have brought Astràgali to about 30 countries around the world. Supported by the European Union, these efforts have been marked by the need to comprehend – in aesthetic practise – the relationship between tradition and contemporaneity: Il corpo dell’arte; Teatri di guerra – pratiche di pace; War gifts; Persae; Le rotte di Ulisse – per una critica della violenza; Front/frontier- dynamics of inclusion of the other; Roads and desires-theatre overcomes conflict; H.O.S.T. – Hospitality, Otherness, Society, Theatre; Stories of stars and acrobats; Walls- Separate Worlds; Theatrum Mundi. Astràgali's official objectives: - to produce, co-produce, play, organize theatre performances in Apulia, in the other Italian regions and abroad, and to produce and make audio-visual and cinema products - to promote theatre activities through performances, festivals, meetings, exhibitions, schools and in general with any means also in the neighbourhoods, in schools of every order and grade, in work places, with the aim of cultural, civil, social and political growth of citizens in accordance to the democratic principles and in the respect of the constitutional laws; - to make an activity of research, documentation, training in the cultural and social field, in favour of the associated or on behalf of a third party, public or private, and activity of publishing production; - to organize groups of research and study, meetings, seminars, to promote a monitoring and a catalogue of cultural heritage directly or indirectly connected with performing arts, to disseminate the materials of the research, either cinematographic, radio, audiovisual or press materials, providing also their production (preparation, publication, press); to make editorial and information activities, putting a particolar attention on cultural issues, with tipographical techniques and with any other means of communication and anyhow connected to the social purpose; - to promote and manage recreational, free time activities with a high cultural value; - to make any other similar activity or connected to those mentioned in order to create possibilities of work for the members for assistence purposes, also through the fulfillment of the programs and directions provided for by the laws concerning vocational training. - creation and management of archives, with a particular attention to the multimedia creation of them; - creation, organization and management of press-offices; - dissemination of publishing, video and record materials; -to operate in the field of cultural tourism.
