Teatro delle Ariette: the show is served

2017-01-30 Taking theatre out of the theatre. Into our homes and fields, into warehouses for storing farm implements. Offering a life experience, seeking a form of communion with the audience through food. Organic food grown on “Le Ariette” farm in Castello di Serravalle – Valsamoggia (Bologna), cooked right on stage and shared with the audience. This is Teatro delle Ariette.
Paola Berselli and Stefano Pasquini, professional actors and farmers by choice, joined forces with actor Maurizio Ferraresi, who works with them but does not live on the farm, to found this unusual institution, which began as a cultural association in 1996 and became a theatre company in 2000.
“What we do is theatre of human relationships,” say Paola and Stefano, who call themselves “two scarecrows in love”, “and it takes place in places such as the Tool Warehouse, a rural theatre building on “Le Ariette” farm with space for no more than twenty-five or thirty spectators. A very intimate situation results, in a place with no stage or stalls, where we actors share the same space as the audience. It’s like a ritual, in which there are practitioners and participants, rather than performers and observers.”
In “Teatro da mangiare?”, or “Edible theatre?” the historic performance you first produced in 2000 and have put on thousands of times, you combine theatre with life, the spoken word with the banquet, on the stage in an original yet familiar way.
“Food is an element of the drama of a performance: it can be a source of inspiration, or a consequence, but it’s always there. You feel good at a table with somebody who is serving you. And at the same time, it is also a material element, because, when you talk about a life experience, you can introduce a material element into the action in the performance.”
This material dimension brings some important elements with it, such as the actions involved in transforming raw materials into food.
“It replaces abstract gestures with concrete acts, and brings sensorial elements onto the stage, such as the sounds of cooking, the tactile, visual and olfactory aspects. Elements that trigger sentiments, emotions and memories in our minds. Along with objects, such as the table, cutlery, glasses, plates, bottles: elements not normally found in the theatre, which are given the dignity of a leading role in our performances.”
This theatrical action reveals the most profound essence of everyday objects and actions, which we often forget or underestimate precisely because we use them every day.
“Theatre puts them back in the centre and suggests that our everyday life is very interesting and full of mystery. It is magical and extraordinary, depending on how we look at it. This kind of theatre transfigures everyday life and seeks to expand our perception of it. Just as art does with life.”
Have any of the audience members ever invited you into their homes?
“Yes. After “Teatro da mangiare?”, audience members have invited us over to dinner. The show has opened the doors of kitchens in various parts of Italy and Europe to us...”

We continue our interview with Paola Berselli and Stefano Pasquini, two professional actors who are also farmers by choice. Produce from their farm goes up on stage and enters a ritual sphere, where it becomes a source of sentimental nourishment

“All our theatre,” explain Paola Berselli and Stefano Pasquini, founders of Teatro delle Ariette in Castello di Serravalle – Valsamoggia (Bologna), “arises out of the desire to share reflection on ourselves, because, by talking about something intimate, we lay the foundations for sharing. Though we lead a perfectly normal life, our autobiography resonates with the audience and encourages them to consider their own autobiographies. Ours is a choral form of theatre. We are individuals in a community.”
As you yourselves say, “autobiography brought us this gift: rather than talking about tagliatelle, we try to make them on the stage”. Food plays an essential role in your performances.
“I believe it is no coincidence that Paola grew up in the countryside, the daughter of sharecroppers, and that though I was born in the city, I had a rather Disney-like childhood; I didn’t go to kindergarten, but spent time in the kitchen with my grandmother, in a magical world where raw materials became food. This had a definite impact on our imaginations. Welcoming friends in the kitchen, by the fireside, with a dish of food and a glass of wine, led us to imagine a form of theatre which is a time of profound sharing, involving food.”
How did your relationship with food change when you came to “Le Ariette” farm?
“It changed radically. We became a part of the natural cycle of production and harvesting of raw materials. We started to eat what the earth gave us. In our relationship with nature and the seasons, we got into a rhythm that changed the way we perceive food. Our wishes were modelled on the basis of what nature offered us, and we developed a more ecological relationship with the earth. Now, as Paola says in “Matrimonio d’inverno, an intimate diary of the year 2010, many of us no longer experience food in the beauty and fullness of its natural cycle, and are forced to experience it as a sin, to enjoy it as a transgression, whether we eat too little or too much.”
Can food nourish the soul?
“Food is above all nutrition, but the pleasure it brings you can put you in contact with the universe, and make life seem wonderful to you. What strikes me most about food is its cultural, rather than spiritual, aspect, and its function as a sentimental education: for us human beings, and for mammals in general, our relationship with food begins as an affective relationship with another person, with the mother who nourishes us and gives us life. Food has very strong relational and emotional aspects: getting together around a table, eating together, giving dishes a name, entering a ritual sphere that results in sentimental nourishment.”

We conclude our interview with Paola Berselli and Stefano Pasquini by looking back at the foods they have served on stage over the past twenty years. From handmade tagliatelle to vegetable ratatouille, from hot tigelle to tortellini in beef and chicken broth

What were the menus like at the shows put on by Teatro delle Ariette, the theatre company established twenty years ago at “Le Ariette”, a farm near Castello di Serravalle – Valsamoggia (Bologna)? In almost all their performances, actors and farmers Paola Berselli and Stefano Pasquini put produce from their own farm on stage, cooking it in the theatre and sharing it with the audience.

In “Teatro da mangiare?” or Theatre to Eat? (2000), the menu for the first performance in Volterra was:
• Tomatoes, cucumbers and shallots from Le Ariette, preserved in olive oil and served with a yoghurt and dried basil sauce and flatbread cooked on a terra cotta plate
• Organic Parmesan cheese and dried sausage
• Tagliatelle made from semi-whole wheat flour with a pesto made of walnuts, hazelnuts and rosemary

In “Prima di Pasolini” or Before Pasolini (2002), the audience found themselves in the rural theatre of the Tool Warehouse at “Le Ariette” before a banquet of:
• Fresh ricotta cheese with honey and cherries
• Bread, salami and cheese
• Red wine

The menu for “Teatro di terra” or Theatre of the Land (2002) has changed over the years, but now represents its essence:
• Toasted salted almonds
• Corn polenta with extra virgin olive oil, parmesan cheese and rosemary.
“Over the years we have had elements that keep coming back on special occasions,” explains Stefano; “sausage meat sauce, friggione which is not fried, spinach soup and potatoes.”

In “Secondo Pasolini” or According to Pasolini (2003), the audience eats and drinks sitting on the grass:
• Bread, cheese and olives
• Panzanella (a cold soup made with day-old bread, tomatoes and red onions)
• Red wine

In “L’estate.fine” or “The summer.end” (2004), “we planted a field in Santarcangelo with corn and vegetables between January and July to create a living scene of vegetables for the show. Then we cooked vegetables from the field and ate them with the audience.” The menu was:
• Greg’s Macchiatino Aperitif (a full-bodied white wine generously splashed with Campari) and chips
• Vegetable ratatouille with piadina, a flatbread traditionally made in Romagna

In “Dans ma maison” (2006), a performance co-produced with Théatre de Chambre (France), Paola and Stefano made tigelle, circles of dough traditionally cooked between terra cotta tiles, and served:
• Hot tigelle with a selection of local cheeses and cured meats
In “È finito il tempo delle lacrime” or “The time of tears is over” (2007), they served:
• Hot freshly-made tigelle with mild pecorino cheese from the hills outside Bologna, mortadella, pink salami, ham and cured meats

In “Matrimonio d’inverno, diario intimo” or “Winter marriage: an intimate diary” (2010), “a performance that took place in our own kitchen, by candlelight, with the fire lit, for an audience of eight, whom we served a traditional local wedding banquet at our own table,” the menu was:
• Sparkling Pignoletto Corte D’Aibo wine with semi-whole wheat Crocette bread
• Tortellini in beef and chicken broth
• Boiled chicken and beef served with green sauce and boiled potatoes
• Custard trifle
“It was all served on a beautiful embroidered tablecloth which was a wedding gift. The plates, trays and soup tureen came from Paola’s mother’s antique set, with roses painted on ivory porcelain with gilded edge trim.”

In “Teatro Naturale? Io, il couscous e Albert Camus”, or “Natural Theatre? Me, couscous and Albert Camus” (2012), Paola and Stefano served the audience:
• Toasted salted almonds, taralli and red wine
• Couscous steamed with vegetables in season (which the audience themselves gathered as part of the performance), cooked in their own broth

In “Sul tetto del mondo” or “On the roof of the world” (2014-2015), the menu served on June 18 2014, Paola and Stefano’s silver wedding anniversary, was:
• Peasant bread from Garagnani bakery
• Sautéed courgettes, chard and chicory
• Fresh ricotta cheese
• Tagliatelle made from semi-whole wheat flour served with extra virgin olive oil
• Ciambella delle Ariette from Garagnani bakery
• Sparkling Pignoletto Corte d’Aibo wine

In “Tutto quel che so del grano” or “Everything I know about wheat” (2016), the following food is made on stage, cooked and eaten with the audience:
• Soft focaccia
“This food goes back to the roots of our civilisation,” says Stefano. “We ask the audience to bring focaccia or other products made from wheat from home, such as cakes, pizzas and breads, and share them with the rest of the audience after the show, an important time when everybody eats together and people get to know one another.”

Mariagrazia Villa

Photos: Stefano Vaja