The Bitter Belief of Cotrone the Magician on a mystery island location also sounds unmissable.

Lyn Gardner

This reworking of Pirandello involves a boat ride to a mystery island somewhere in the Fifth of Forth in a literal theatrical journey that, upon arrival, promises puppetry, projections, performance and live music. Certainly, this will be experimental artist Andrea Cusumano's most ambitious piece yet.

Fringe 2009: the top 100, The Scotsman

Cotrone @ Sweet in the Firth of the Forth
Edinburgh 2009

Andrea Cusumano-CeSDAS

Richard Demarco Foundation Sweet Venue
Fondazione Banco di Sicilia Fondazione Orestiadi

In collaboration with:
Historic Scotland
Italian Cultural Institute Edinburgh
Area10 Project Space, London

PLOT
Cotrone, the magician, is the leader of a group of extravagant people, who decided to avoid contact with society and live in a world of fantasy and freedom within the walls of an abandoned house ‘La Scalogna’.
One day, a company of actors guided by the ‘Countess’ approach the house. First Cotrone and his people try to scare them off. But the more they use tricks to frighten them away, the more they approach the house. Finally Cotrone decides to host the Countess and the company in the house.
What takes place then is a dialogue between Cotrone and the Countess, who represents two different ways of conceiving communication and forms. Theatre is used as a metaphor. Cotrone believes that his dreams, images and fantasies only need is to be imagined and they will magically appear in the safe frame of the Scalogna. The Countess' belief is pointless without a public and she is desperately try to perform her repertoire in a real theatre.
At the end of the play the Countess convinces Cotrone to perform, and Cotrone, still not convinced, offers his help and his own company to her purposes.
They will perform for the ‘Giants of the Mountain’, to an uncanny population, which lives in the mountain above the Scalogna. The show will come to a bitter ending with the giants killing and turning into piece the Countess and the entire company.
Some relevant changes from the original version of the ‘Giants of the Mountain’ have been made in our production. In particular Cotrone is the only speaking character while the ‘Scalognati’ are all just puppets. The ‘Countess’ is a Thai transvestite dancer, and therefore her company has been transformed into an oriental musicians procession.
Pirandello left several notes about the ending of the piece, but he died before being able to include it in the play. His bitter ending should have seen the Giants beating, killing and eating the company. We have decided to use it as part of our dramaturgy, and therefore the Countess will finally perform for the Giants.

THE ISLAND
One of the most relevant elements in the work of CeSDAS is the dramaturgical impact of the space. Originally set in an abandoned Baroque palace in the Sicilian countryside, the ‘Bitter Belief of Cotrone the Magician’ has come across several changes and developments depending on the location where it was performed. Sweet in the Firth of the Forth represents the ideal setting for the piece, for its aura and for the extraordinary similarity to the site depicted in the original text.
Conceptually the piece is contemplating 3 different spaces.
1. The Scalogna, the place of isolation and magic of Cotrone and his people (the island itself)
2. The route of the Countess (a jouney trough the sea)
3. The city of the Giants (the city of Edinburgh?)