In a time like the contemporary one of conflicts and violence, the Krypton theatre company brings to the stage the testimony of literature and life, pushed to the point of extreme sacrifice, of Etty Hillesum, the young Dutch Jewish writer who opposed the hatred and cruelty of the Nazi persecutors with the strength of love. “A single great prayer-homage to Etty Hillesum”, is the theatrical piece directed by Fulvio Cauteruccio, which closes Apologia per la Pace, a project conceived by the Krypton company for the Estate Fiorentina 2024, and will be staged in a new edition on September 26 at 8:00 pm on the steps of the Abbey of San Miniato al Monte in Florence.
The work is based on the original poetic dramaturgy of Lorenzo Bertolani and features Lorella Serni who embodies the young Dutch writer, Massimo Bevilacqua signs the lights and virtual scenography. The show is preceded by a meeting with Father Bernardo Gianni, Abbot of San Miniato al Monte, Lorenzo Bertolani, Fulvio Cauteruccio and Dino Castrovilli.
The show
The figure and short life of Etty Hillesum, the woman who wanted to “think with her heart”, are heartbreaking, her arrival at a “theology” of the rejection of hatred, forgiveness and love towards others, first and foremost the Nazi persecutors, is a choice of incredible existential resistance in the face of horror, in the search for an “other” sense of self and of the relationship with others.
Born in Middelburg, Holland, on January 15, 1914, a law graduate, a lover of the Russian language and literature and good reading (the Bible, Rilke, Russian writers), gifted with an inexhaustible physical and mental vitality, Etty Hillesum had the first radical turning point in her life when she met the psycho-chirologist Julius Spier, a student of Jung. Thanks mainly to Spier, of whom she became a patient and friend, Etty was able to take the path that would lead her to transform herself and to transform her extraordinary vitality into unlimited love for others. The second radical turning point was born to the rise of Nazism and its horrifying plan to physically suppress all Jews; instead of responding with desperation and a desire for revenge, Etty responds with love and the vision of a better world. She thus chooses to accept and share to the extreme the suffering and fate of the Jewish people. Although she has the possibility of saving herself, she refuses it by going to die in Auschwitz on November 30, 1943.
The “revolution” that happened in Etty, and that Etty wanted to transmit, matured thanks to Spier but above all in the knowledge and deep contact with God (“the girl who had learned to kneel”) and in the desire to be “a single, great prayer”: something that she certainly achieved, as her biographical, spiritual and literary legacy (the Diary 1941-42 and the Letters, published in Italy by Adelphi) confirms.
The poet Lorenzo Bertolani drew from the vision and writings, Diary and Letters, of Etty Hillesum, drawing from her writings a dramaturgy that restores her existential and poetic journey, with a vibrant and dramatically current story in its powerful invitation to peace: «A future peace can be truly such only if it has first been found by each person within himself – if each man has freed himself from hatred towards his neighbor, of any race or people, if he has overcome this hatred and transformed it into something different, perhaps in the long run into love if that is not asking too much. (…) I am a happy person and I praise this life, I really praise it, in the year of our Lord 1942, yet another year of war» (Diary of 19 June 1942). Fulvio Cauteruccio creates a deliberately essential direction that aims to enhance the intense interpretation of the protagonist crossed by a powerful flow of thoughts. The phrase “so, finally, we will leave the field singing” closes the show.
“I met Etty Hillesum – says Lorenzo Bertolani – thanks to the words of a Florentine priest, Don Massimiliano Villani, and those of his friend Dino Castrovilli. In the poetic drama Un’unica grande preghiera, which Lorella Serni and Fulvio Cauteruccio have perfectly captured in its essence, I wanted to propose the path that the Dutch Jewish writer takes: from chaos and interior fragmentation to unity with herself, with God, with others. Becoming a link between God and others. The path is accompanied by the writing of her diaries and letters. It is marked by meditation, physical activity, walking, cycling, and love for plants. In this passage Julius Spier plays a significant role, becoming for her a substantial, spiritual and physical reference. Readings are the central node of his journey: the Bible, St. Augustine, Rainer Maria Rilke. Prayer, in a time characterized by prohibitions and persecutions due to the Nazi horror, becomes a place of refuge but also, and above all, a starting point to give oneself to others with a continuous positive moral and practical presence, both in Amsterdam and in the transit camp of Westerbork. In a “time orphaned by love” like today and like the one experienced by the writer, the figure of Etty Hillesum represents a light of hope, at times almost unlikely, for a future built on an inner peace that opens naturally and totally to others. As Etty acts as an intermediary between God and men, I have tried to be an intermediary between her and the spectators. Offering an example of spiritual and immortal light universally accepted».
Free admission until seats are taken, reservations required on the website [email protected]