Abstract

This thesis: Origins and Destinations: Representation in the theatre of Romeo Castellucci, investigates the working methodology of the Italian theatre director, Romeo Castellucci and his company, Societas Raffaello Sanzio. It provides an account of Societas Raffaello Sanzio’s history, working methods, a detailed reading of the thematic and philosophical landscape in their works especially Genesi: from the museum of sleep, and the cycle: Tragedia Endogonidia, and a discussion on the company’s artistic process towards the formation of its compositions and performances. This research and investigation is based on numerous viewings of most of the company’s theatre works created in the last six years, interviews with Romeo Castellucci as well as other participating artists, two privileged periods of observation in Italy of the rehearsal and creation processes of three shows, and the analysis and discussion of some of the key critical and intellectual responses to the work of Romeo Castellucci. The thematic focus of the thesis is the notion of Origins and Destinations, and its relationship with the language of representation in Romeo Castellucci’s theatre. The theoretical discussion in the thesis is organised around Giorgio Agamben’s notion of Potentiality within the composition and content of Castellucci’s theatre. This concept provides a link between the key ideas of Origins, Destinations and Representation. Castellucci’s application of Agamben’s Potentiality deconstructs dramatic structure, narrative and action down to the fundamentals of the act itself, separated from its meaningful context. It is the conclusion of this thesis, that in the instant of this singular act, Romeo Castellucci manages to represent a point where origin and destination meet, or a point where they both are, for an instant, one and the same thing.