Memories and Recollections. Group Theatre. 1969-1976. Part I

Abstract

I discuss only a fragment of the history of laboratory group theatre, between the years 1969 and 1976, which though often ignored, are very significant. My writing follows the through-line of a private and highly emotional documentation, made up partly of letters, and partly of successive testimonies that were sifted and confronted to other documentation. The article aims to give space and weight to the passion that spurred them on; to observe the main characteristics of a push from below towards theatrical change; to bring into focus the connections between theatrical choices and historical phases; to investigate the artistic results produced by the groups; the ability to create a context; the modalities of the internal life of the groups; their economic management; even their sentimental lives; the transformations that resulted from all this.