| Author and Director | Monika Maimone |
| Producer | Valerio Festi |
In the productions of the theatre ‘Studio Festi' the great Italian culture with its traditions of street theatre and the majestic renaissance art, street celebrations and processions, and baroque luxury is embodied in a new quality: in the solemn and stunning style of the 'neo-baroque'. This is how the founders of the theatre Valerio Festi and Monika Maimone define the stylistic orientation of their performances. The monumental cloths of their street representations - with angels flying in the sky in long white clothes, with pictures of great Italian masters of the renaissance in projections that embrace entire buildings, with the trembling faces arising on the screen from under sprayed water, with huge painted spheres floating in the sky above the heads of the spectators, with dances on walls of houses - all this becomes a real embodiment of the motto of the theatre saying 'our purpose is to create a miracle’. The baroque richness is combined with mystic unrestrainedness, and familiar plots, mostly of biblical origin, acquire a new figurativeness and a new resonance. The open sky, the city square, the park, the street, a wood - all this can serve as scenery to their performance. Fire and water, earth and air, all the elements come together in solemn polyvalence. When high above the heads of a crowd of many thousands the last angel, drawn out of the blackness of the night sky by projectors moves along a thin wire across the huge square the spectator becomes transfixed in admiration. But when this last, almost ephemeral bridge burns as he the last angel moves on, and the fiery rain falls upon the ground, that ‘miracle’ seems to happen in front of your eyes. A miracle of art in any case. The theatre ‘Studio Festi’ returns to Moscow, this time with a new performance which is created specially for the Chekhov Festival. The authors remain true to their themes, and the final performance of the festival will tell a story of The Fallen Angel’. The artistic language of this show is metaphoric and full of fiery images because fire is, this time, the main expressive means of the production.