Lourdes

It is a story which – halfway between inner confession and choral representation – seems to be suitable for Andrea Cosentino’s theatre made of odd and surreal characters. Director Luca Ricci has had the idea to make Cosentino play the role of a benefactress and he has created a sarcastic and funny show, winner of “Teatri del Sacro” Festival. (…) Accompanied by Danila Massimi’s music, Cosentino takes us through an unforgettable collection of human misfortunes, thanks to his unconventional and funny interpretation, so sweet and comic at the same time. (Graziano Graziani, www.minimaetmoralia.it, 9 March 2016)

Each character has his own typical trait, in his way of speaking and moving, and their vision, one after another, makes us laughing and almost acclaiming the miracle – since we are on the topic- because we have just seen a show made of few means, but of talent too, and with a true faith: for the theatre. (…)If the opportunity arises, do not miss it! (Francesca De Sanctis, L’Unità, 29 February 2016)

Lourdes is a route of the comicality which describes humanity in the most religious contexts. The provincial life led by the characters underlines the funny things, making typical folkloric personages emerge in front of each spectator who surely recognizes them. (Rosella Matassa, www.gufettopress.it, 27 February 2016)

Luca Ricci, artistic director of Kilowatt Festival and founder of CapoTrave company, carries out a meticulous and delicate direction. (…) Irreverent and grotesque, the show is so fascinating that even in the non-believers can touch the conscience and can make you reflect seriously about the path/viaticum towards the salvation, the healing, both physical and moral. (…) Andrea Cosentino performs many characters, including a peculiar final narration, but he plays the role of Maria with harrowing humanity: she symbolizes an unspeakable truth which nobody dares to pronounce, she moves and makes you laugh, dividing strategically the stage with Danila Massimi’s percussion instruments and her mesmerizing and precious voice. (Mario Di Calo, www.femaleword.it, 25 February 2016)

Lourdes mixes the sarcastic taste of grotesque and dreamlike visions and the sweetish taste of the comedy which almost reaches and comes close to poetic lyricism, arriving at the hearth of the most intimate and desperate human tragedy. Using the biting style of caustic and irreverent irony, Andrea Cosentino enters with frenetic movements in a tragi-comic display of hysteric puppets. (Gisella Rotiroti, http://cheteatrochefa-roma.blogautore.repubblica.it, 24 February 2016)

An unusual collaboration between Andrea Cosentino and Luca Ricci, also director, for a common script which is spontaneous, rapid, seriously funny. (Nicole Jallin, www.quartaparetepress.it, 23 February 2016)

From a lucky union among Cosentino, CapoTrave company with director Luca Ricci and Rosa Matteucci’s novel “Lourdes”, a beautiful monologue was born, which is deservedly one of the winners of “2015 Teatri del Sacro” contest. It is a verbal hail, litany and stream of consciousness, with lively, witty, very funny, but also bitter, tones. While the actor is sipping miraculous water from a Virgin Mary- shaped bottle, Danila Massimi sings and plays arcane percussion instruments: a soft but significant presence, which underlines the color, the atmosphere and the suspense during the different stages of the show. (Anna Barenghi, www.ilgrido.org, 22 February 2016)

Cosentino masterfully succeeds in playing his character. (…) The wonderful live voice belongs to Danila Massimi who – touching delicately percussion instruments- accompanies Cosentino’s words creating a surreal atmosphere. (…) Don’t miss it! (Marianna Zito, http://modulazioni-temporali.webnode.it, 22 February 2016)

Cosentino and Ricci outline a course of circular, but varied, action which in the end brings back to the starting point: is a believer meant to obey, accept his sorrow and annihilate his existence in the anguish of sin? Maybe not. And yet, everybody, even the more atheistic, sometimes needs a sacred image to whom spitting in the face asking “So what?” (Adriano Sgobba, www.paperstreet.it, 19 February 2016)

After funny scenes such as the Platonic love for the crazy Gonzalo and the abandonment of an old woman without hesitation so as not to miss the train, Maria finally comes to the cave where there is the flash intuition: (…) Cosentino stands out for his frenetic and expressive, but never formal, interpretation. (Alex Guizio, www.altrevelocita.it, February 2016)

Lourdes is a tale made by different shades, by rough and peculiar scenes, by crude and hyperrealistic details, such as the dialect from Umbria, used to represent disfigured and tragically funny characters. The text of the show is mostly based on Cosentino’s interpretation and Ricci’s adaptation; by all means they try to make the language comic which, from a certain point of view, lends itself to laugh, because it is characterized by an exponential and cruel accumulation of adjectives and adverbs. (Jacopo Gardelli, www.ravennanotizie.it, 18 January 2016)

“Lourdes”, played by Andrea Cosentino, is one of the most successful shows at 2015 Kilowatt Festival (…): the characters, mildly parodic, are sorrowful and nostalgic, neither too far nor too close to us. They come up to us and make us examine them, asking us if we too have decided to have faith. (Francesca Gambarini, Hystrio, October 2015)

It is easy to find out humanity in the characters of “Lourdes”, played by Andrea Cosentino and directed by Luca Ricci. (…) Danila Massimi’s live music suspends, but does not break, Cosentino’s rhythm, giving life to it. (…) Behind the grotesque, the protagonist Maria Angulema’s disorientation and fragility are hidden: during her grieving process, she is questioning herself and her convictions. (Rossella Porcheddu, www.teatroecritica.net, 7 August 2015)

An important sign has been left by “Lourdes”. (…) In this show there is often something prodigious, which is almost impossible to explain, but it gets immediately under spectator’s skin and it is based on some unpredictable slipping, little eclipses, that mark the transition from comic moments to touching ones. (Andrea Pocosgnich, www.teatroecritica.net, 19 June 2015)

In “Lourdes”, based on the same title debut novel by Rosa Matteucci, the body is at the center of creation. (…) The specious observation of a suffering word is demolished by the surprising final, where God enlightens the protagonist, reminding her arrogance towards the troubles of the world. (Mario Bianchi, www.klpteatro.it, 18 June 2015)