Inspired in one image from the book by Petros Markaris “Termination”

direction Daria Deflorian and Antonio Tagliarini
collabotion to the project Monica Piseddu and Valentino Villa
with Daria Deflorian, Monica Piseddu, Antonio Tagliarini and Valentino Villa
lights Gianni Staropoli
set counseling Marina Haas
technical direction Giulia Pastore
management and distribution Giulia Galzigni / Parallèle

production A.D.
co-production Teatro di Roma / Romaeuropa Festival 2013/ 369 gradi
in collaboration with Festival Castel dei Mondi
artistic residencies Centrale Fies / Olinda / Angelo Mai Altrove Occupato / Percorsi Rialto / Fondazione Romaeuropa / Teatro Furio Camillo / Carrozzerie n.o.t
thanks to Attilio Scarpellini and Francesco La Mantia, Francesca Cuttica, Valerio Sirna, Ilaria Carlucci, Alessandra Ventrella

The Greek writer Petros Markaris – who is also an important political commentator of his country – has decided to set his latest books on the background of the economic crisis. “Termination” opens with the image of four retired housewives who voluntarily commit suicide leaving a message brilliant in its simplicity, which ends by saying: “(…) we realized that we are a weight to the state, the doctors, pharmacists and across society. So we decided to go because we don’t want to be a burden to you. You’ll save our four pensions and you will be able to live better.”. We grew fond of these four elderly women because it is not a true story but a fiction, we imagined their plot reacting to the society in crisis, we have limited our creation from the moment they take the sleeping pills and one by one leaves life, in the small suburban apartment. “But what did we do?” Says one of our figures to her friends and bursts into laughter while she is already lying on the bed waiting for the effect of the tablets swallowed with vodka, “one of the surest ways to a peaceful death in the sleep.”

We were interested in using the area of freedom of the theatre to trigger our anger, heal the excess of positivity that surrounds us, the rigid politically correct behaviour, easy emotions, stereotyped smile of social relations, the recipes to live with serenity the injustices that affect us. Finally the scene written by Markaris made us think about suicide not as an existential act but as an extreme political act. Is there an altruistic suicide? We went to look for other similar gestures in History. The one of Jan Palach, who during the Prague’s Spring in 1969, who set himself on fire as an act of protest against censorship and that of the Buddhist monk in Vietnam, Thich Quang Duc, who, in 1963, made the same gesture to combat the persecution to his religion.