Seen at Festival delle Colline Torinesi on the 2nd of November 2022
3 stars – intense atmosphere
A load of ashes, a she-dog whose howling is amplified and expanded in space. Neon lights flicker; they turn red with the creaking sound of a fire.
Silvia Calderoni presents a solo that develops the research her company, Motus, has started with Tutto Brucia (‘Everything Burns’). This time, the focus is on the character of Hecuba, the wife of Priam and queen of Troy. In Euripides’s tragedy, as well as reported in other sources, after the burning of Troy and the loss of her sons and daughters, she is forecasted to become a ‘black she-dog with fire in her eyes’.
The research behind the performance is precious, with various sources to enrich the background. They are not really brought to the scene, though, as no words are spoken. The performance builds an extremely powerful and intense atmosphere, that strikes with awe and fear, but some elements of it seem unjustified. You Were Nothing but Wind is, indeed, presented as a performance, but its fruition is too similar to that of a play – for which it would lack action and plot – rather than that of a site-specific performance.
1st and 2nd of November 2022
Running time: 40 minutes
Venue: Fondazione Merz
Company Website: https://www.motusonline.com/en/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/motus_enddna/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/motustwit/
Butterwort 
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