Secret Theatre

Abstract

In this note the author, a specialist in Medieval history, refers to a theatrical and festive episode which he was asked to participate in as a member of a commission which was to judge the stagings for the May Day celebrations in Assisi, a public celebration in a medieval setting. This secret theatre represents a unique event, which is intensely experienced by the actors but almost unknown to the public, in which a whole city participates but is watched only by three spectators. Some of the most extreme choices of the present theatre appear within today’s town celebrations. They are not planned, but are due to the inner reasons of the festive organization of a ‘popular’ and ‘traditional’ type of celebration. An opportunity to reflect, from an unusual point of view, on the most secret values of the theatre and on the usefulness of ‘waste’ for the cultural and economic life of a community.