Golem

Duration: 55min

Direction and dramaturgy: Mariasole Brusa
Music: Andrea Napolitano
Puppets and props: Gianluca Palma, Sofia Orlando, Marco Scarpa
Set design: Alberto Favretto
Lighting design: Sander Loonen
Costumes: Gianluca Sbicca
Video: Caterina Salvadori, Mariasole Brusa – Meclimone Produzioni
Project tutors: Stefano Ricci, Gianni Forte
Produced by: La Biennale di Venezia
With the support of: Teatro del Drago
Distribution: Teatro del Drago
Cast: Eva Luna Betelli, Giovanni Consoli, Sofia Orlando, Angela Dionisia Severino

Two hands gather mud from a puddle and begin to shape it.

Are they the hands of a child, a primordial being, a god? The hands mold the formless substance, creating increasingly complex figures. An entire city of clay takes shape. Yet the creative impulse remains strong, and the hands continue to sculpt—this time, forming an anthropomorphic figure, a mud puppet. The clay-stained fingers trace symbols resembling letters on the creature’s forehead, eventually forming the word EMET, meaning “life.” The puppet—the Golem—opens its eyes. It comes to life, interacting with itself, with its surroundings, with its own reflection. But soon, it too is overtaken by the desire to create, the urgent need to shape —after its own image and likeness. Creation and destruction, however, feed into each other. Mariasole Brusa has combined the legend of the Golem with the experience of the catastrophic flood that struck the Italian region of Romagna in 2023.

In partnership with ATER Fondazione.