A former quarantine station becomes a stage: on the island of Lazzaretto Vecchio, a place steeped in historical memory and isolation, Romeo Castellucci presents The Potato Eaters, a site-specific action conceived in dialogue with the building’s empty, austere architecture.
No scenographic elements, no conventional narrative structure. At the center: the body, time, and the relationship with space. As in much of Castellucci’s work, the experience unfolds through sensory perception, tension between presence and absence, gesture and silence.
A list of words — “Fall, Statue, Hunger, Caricature, History, Three, Affection, Friend, Wax, Brown, Christus, Ribbon, Lingua Imperii, Black Star” — accompanies the action like scattered, evocative clues.
No explanation, no storyline: only traces, images, layers.
Within the context of Theatre is Body – Body is Poetry, Castellucci’s work inhabits the site, enhancing its starkness and offering the audience an immersive experience, stripped of conceptual mediation.