On Wednesday, 13 December, 2023, the play TRIANGOLI was performed at Teatro Camploy by the Teatro a Rotelle Company as part of Festivabìlia, a theater festival organized by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Verona. The festival features theatre companies associated with the world of disability.
Directed by Nicoletta Vicentini and Jana Karsaiova, the play is inspired by Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac and focuses on the unfortunate love triangle between Cyrano, Roxane, and Christian, as well as the many “triangles” formed by a non-conforming couple in a judgmental society. Through the character of Cyrano, with his perceived or real ugliness and his belief that he is unworthy of love, the play invites reflection on stereotypes and prejudices concerning love and disability.
While largely maintaining the original text, the performance shifts its focus to parallels with contemporary society, exploring how “diversity” is perceived and the right for all to a sexual and emotional life. The Teatro a Rotelle troupe approached Cyrano’s story with great enthusiasm, finding the theme immediately compelling. After discussions and exchanges, they developed a script that speaks of hopes, loves, disappointments, abilities, disabilities, and the gaze of a society steeped in judgment and prejudice. The evocative, poetic, and sharp language of the original text is blended with moments of more contemporary theatre, creating a multi-layered performance. The “triangles” in the play symbolize both romantic entanglements—a him, a her, and another—and the experience of a non-conforming couple in a judgmental society.