Prix de la critique theatre et danse 2020-2021 to Marco Martinelli
The French national association of drama, music and dance critics (Syndicat Professionnel de la critique de theatre, de musique et de danse) has announced its Palmarès for the 2020-2021 season, underling that “more than ever, in such a special year, critics have deliberately chosen titles and figures of resistance to give a strong and empathetic message to the performing arts, stopped by the pandemic and the difficulties of closed theatres”.
The prize as “Best Book on Theatre” was awarded to Aristophane dans les banlieues by Marco Martinelli (ed. Actes Sud, translated and curated by Laurence Van Goethem).
The book is the French version of Aristofane a Scampia. Come far amare i classici agli adolescenti con la non-scuola, published in 2016 (ed. Ponte alle Grazie), in which Martinelli tells, as in a novel, the non-scuola method – theatrical practice with teenagers – and the adventures around the world of this vital pedagogy, from Ravenna to Dakar, from Scampia (suburb of Naples) to New York.
Dramaturg and director, founder and artistic director of Teatro delle Albe company together with Ermanna Montanari, Marco Martinelli has received numerous and prestigious recognitions in Italy and abroad, including seven Ubu Prizes as director, dramaturg, and pedagogue, precisely for the non-scuola project.
His plays have been translated and staged in ten languages, in Europe, South America and United States.
Among his most recent publications, Nel nome di Dante. Diventare grandi con la Divina Commedia (ed. Ponte alle Grazie, 2019), a book «written above all for the teenagers (…) so that they may be as fascinated and stummed as I was when, teenager, I started entering in that cathedral shining with darkness the Commedia is».