Twenty years ago, a group of military kidnapped, tortured and killed Haroldo Conti. A Latin teacher at a middle school in Buenos Aires, a lover of the river, a collector of figureheads and a writer, guilty of high poetry. He was our friend, Haroldo, but this is not the reason why this play, inspired by his most famous novel, awarded the Casa de las Americas prize in La Habana, has been dedicated to him. Haroldo Conti's murder strikes us because of its ritual nature, just like the murder of Victor Jara by the Chilean dictators: Victor's hands played freedom on the guitar, Haroldo's hands wrote poetry of rebellion and prose of liberation.

Crimes by which the most beautiful, aware, clear and poetical part of a culture is cut off in blood; by the hand of brothers blinded by the idiocy of falsehood, by a senseless power, responsible for the great madness of Latin America: one of the richest continents in the world, blessed with the universal distribution of gifts, flora, fauna, minerals and climate; but where a small number of powerful beings keep the majority of the population in a state of poverty and hunger.

Dying of hunger in the midst of abundance, serving a never-ending sentence: this is the cry that transcends the pages of Haroldo's Mascarò, which we have given voice to in our play.
Taking to the street as minstrels once did, with a language that strives to reach everybody, beyond the limits of the spoken word.

WHAT THE INTERNATIONAL PAPERS SAY

...long applause sanctions the success of the play. With eyes still dazzled, we look at the square, the steps, the spaces that hosted this event, not yet settled in our minds. A few sheets of burnt paper remain on the ground. We read: this is the account of the disappearance of Conti, tortured and killed by the Argentinean police. The play is over, all is quiet, but not our conscience...
Theatre built on choreographic moments of great aesthetic and symbolic impact. The message transmitted is strong and clear: the need to rediscover the dream, the imagination, the unknown, the instinct to bring the shadowy areas of the human conscience to light, the irrepressible desire for new existential conditions, no longer stiffly set in a prearranged game of social relations, a forward bolt for freedom, although one which never abandons the reality and truth of history...
L'Arena, Verona (I)

...Mascarò is an inexhaustible machine of ideas and effects. It opens with a sumptuous procession of splendid costumes clothing the gigantic figures of the western powers, and leads up to the end with a group of emigrants on roller skates, reminding us both of Kantor and Fellini...
La Nuova, Ferrara (I)

...high on stilts or whizzing about on roller skates, whirling burning torches or suitcases, wrapped in black cloaks or gaudy costumes, the actors unleash themselves in an animated, intense, choregraphic, wildly moving street theatre play, amidst songs and music, flames and drums, smoke and dazzle. From the bloody conquests of the Fifteen Hundreds to the mass emigration of the nineteenth century, from the rebellions and struggles of a more recent past to the technological madness of a black, mournful and apocalyptic future..."
Libertà, Piacenza (I)

...a strong play, intimately tied to the strings of Cora Herrendorf and Horacio Czertok, the two Argentinean exiles who, over twenty years ago, landed in Italy and are still the heart and soul of this group, the most interesting and theatrically new street theatre company to be seen in Italy. From the conquistadors to the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, the destiny of the Latin American peoples is elevated with elegance, force and scenic intelligence, to the destiny of man...
Il Corriere Adriatico, Urbino (I)

...the allegory in three acts leafs quickly and powerfully through the other pages of history: the mass emigration of the eighteen hundreds, the violated human rights, the rebellion against the power and the desperate search for the desaparacidos acquire an extraordinary stage force, unmarred by the paucity of the means used and relying on the actors to transmit not only their anger, but also their trust in the ability of art to transform reality...
La Nazione, Prato (I)

...an elegant and fascinating storm of visual and audible allusions. The immensely powerful songs, the ear-splitting drum beats and the music of Cora Herrendorf articulate every second of the play, captivating the audience at least as much as the choreography. In the applause and shouts of enthusiasm, the Nucleo received tribute and thanks for what was an unforgettable journey into metaphor and into the allegorical history of millions of people..."
Il Corriere delle Alpi, Belluno (I)

Name of play: "Mascarò"
Length:60 minutes (no interval)
Place of performance: Square or street closed to traffic and with no parked cars or other vehicles; compact, hard ground with no obstacles and/or steps (we use roller skates!) Performance area dimensions: 35 m x 12 m (seen plan overleaf) )
Set building time: 6 hours (the morning of the performance)
Set removal time: 3 hours (immediatly after performance)

The play startsafter sunset
During the building of the set the place of performance must be reserved exclusively for the Company.

Access to the area required for one lorry (height 3.40m, width 2.50 m, total weight 7.5 t) and one van. The Organiser must obtain the necessary permits. The lorry is needed in the building of the set.

Electricity connection:
380 V / 32 A (three-phase, 20 kW) + neutral + earth, no further than 30 m from the centre of the performance area.

Darkness:
The lighting is an important part of the play. We therefore need darkness during the performance. At the end of the play we will need enough light to take down the set.

Personnel:
2 Technicians for unloading/building/removal/loading and, if necessary, for surveillance during the performance.
1 Electrician for connecting up the lights (at the start of building the set) and for switching the audience lights on and off before and after the performance.
1 Manager authorised to take decisions.

Dressing rooms:
One room next to the performance area for use as a dressing room and for the preparation of the costumes, with electricity and toilet facilities. The room will be used throughout the entire day of the performance.

Steps or chairs can be put up along the sides of the performance area for seating the audience.

Flaming objects and small, authorised fireworks will be used during the performance.

Please inform us of any technical problems at least two weeks before the date of the performance.