A successful premiere for IL TEATRO DEI BRUTTI

TAR actresses and actors on stage

A resounding success for the premiere of “IL TEATRO DEI BRUTTI”, the new performance by Teatro a Rotelle. This student theater group from the University of Verona was established with the support of Massimo Salgaro from the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, and brings to the stage themes of inclusion, accessibility, and diverse abilities.

In the performance staged yesterday evening at Corte Maddalene, a theater troupe is rehearsing Luigi Pirandello’s “La Patente” while the world changes outside the hall. In this dystopian society, power, privilege, and even access to resources are reserved exclusively for those deemed beautiful and aligned with dominant aesthetic standards. Conversely, those considered “aesthetically disadvantaged” are excluded, marginalized, and stripped of their rights.

Marco Lazzarotto’s Il ministero della Bellezza, Luigi Pirandello’s La Patente, and references to Plato’s Symposium serve as the starting point for a concept that mirrors many contemporary mechanisms: the weight of image on social media, aesthetic selection in the workplace, the cult of perfection, and the relentless exposure of the body as a measure of success.

Throughout the performance, this mechanism undergoes a modern update: exclusion is no longer driven by superstition, but by aesthetics. The “ugly” become a discriminated social group, much like Chiàrchiaro was branded with the reputation of a jinx. Beauty ceases to be subjective and transforms into a mechanism of power. The “theater within the theater” structure creates a dual layer: on one hand, Pirandello’s text addressing social masks and imposed identities; on the other, the dystopian reality of the play showing how those very same dynamics persist today in new forms.

TAR actresses and actors on stage