Based on the novel of the same name by Nicola Lagioia (published by Giulio Einaudi Editore), winner in 2015 of the Strega Prize and the Mondello Prize, La Ferocia stages the triumph and ruin of our Western World. It does so through the story of the Salvemini family, a family saga in which the faults of the fathers are reflected in the weaknesses of the children. A bestiary that describes our inability to suppress the instinct of prevarication and the fact of our being perpetually chained by the laws of Nature.
Vittorio Salvemini came from nowhere and, as is to be expected, he wants everything. He is a builder who arrived in Bari, the capital city of his native Apulia region in the South of Italy, in his early thirties. Starting in the 1970s, he achieves a series of professional successes that make him the owner of construction sites worldwide, on which the sun never sets, from Bari to Phuket, via Paris and Istanbul. And only the contradictions of an unbridled ascent will be able to shatter his security. Among these there is the death of his daughter, Clara, who is found naked and covered in blood on the provincial road connecting Bari to Taranto.
“According to some, the discipline that best explains our new 21st Century is ethology. Put a hungry fox in front of a bunch of rabbits and you'll see them run. Run in a square full of pigeons and you’ll see them fly away. Find a pigeon that doesn't fly."
Salvemini’s story has the warmth of a contemporary tragedy, particular and universal at the same time, and feeds on the words penned by a great novelist, born and raised in the South of Italy, a land that has always generated great narratives.
Born from the meeting between Michele Altamura and Gabriele Paolocà, VicoQuartoMazzini - Hystrio Award 2021 as the best emerging company - goes through original writings and reinterpretations of great classics of the theatre and literature. The intent of his work is to reveal great stories capable of investigating the urgencies of our own time and telling them through the infinite possibilities of the scenic and performing art.
