The lights dim, silence falls and the first actor takes to the stage: the show can begin. For a week, every evening, companies from different regions of Italy perform across very different genres, registers and themes: from war to human relations, from work to comedy, up to detective stories and civil theatre. Each evening offers a different look at the world.
The “Il Giullare National Festival”, now in its eighteenth edition, takes place every summer at the Jobel Center in Trani, Puglia, and is one of the main Italian events dedicated to inclusive theatre. Every year it receives hundreds of applications from all over Italy, but only six companies are selected for the competition. Very different shows alternate on stage, united by the presence of actors with physical, mental, intellectual or sensory disabilities and evaluated exclusively for their artistic quality.
HOW THE JESTER IS BORN
The story of the Jester begins almost twenty years ago. It is up to him to rebuild it Marco Pentassuglianow coordinator of the Jobel Center, who has lived that adventure from day one. “It was 2008 and I was doing my civil service at the Jobel Center,” he recalls. «One day it fell into my hands Funny Mystery by Dario Fo. Reading it I was fascinated by the figure of the jester: a bizarre character, dressed in rags and bells, who in the Middle Ages managed to tell the truth without being judged.” The jester reminds him of the plight of many people with disabilities he meets every day. «It struck me that it was considered the last of the last and that, precisely for this reason, he was able to break the mold and speak to everyone”, he explains. From that intuition was born the proposal to start a theater workshop open to the Centre’s guests. «Our goal, however», he specifies, «has never been to do theatre-therapy, but put on quality showsin which the actors were judged by what they brought to the stage and not by their disability».
THE ACTORS OF THE COMPANY
What was born as a theater workshop becomes, year after year, the Jester’s Company. The shows are also starting to be hosted outside the center and the comparison with other companies gives rise to an idea: create a meeting space through theatre. Thus, in 2009, the “National Festival Il Giullare – Theater against every barrier” was born. Since then, the Compagnia del Giullare itself has taken care of the organization every year: during the week of the event its actors do not participate in the competition, but welcome the guest companies, follow the organizational machinery and contribute to the creation of the Festival. Among them there is Vincent65 years old, guest of the Jobel Center for eighteen years: «I like theater because it expresses art and creativity. In recent years”, he says, “we have brought our shows to many cities in Italy, from Turin to Milan, up to Macerata and Carpi. I have performed several monologues on stage and every time it is a great emotion. Acting makes me feel alive, less depressed, less agitated… It lifts me up!». Also Alexander49 years old, is among the historical faces of the Jester. Arriving from Sicily eighteen years ago, he grew up together with the Festival. «The Jester came of age and I also came of age together with him», he smiles. In 2014, with the show The woman with the hatreceived the award for best actor at the Festival of Different Abilities in Carpi and today works alongside the artistic director, Marco Colonnain the management of the evenings: «The beautiful thing about theater is that there is no judgment on stage: we are all equal» he says. And then he adds: «When at the end of the show the audience stands up to applaud you, the heart fills with joy».
THE HISTORY OF THE JOBEL CENTER
The theatre, however, is not the only thread that unites Vincenzo and Alessandro. Both they have lived at the Jobel Center for eighteen yearswhich today hosts the Festival and where the Compagnia del Giullare was born. The history of the Jobel Center begins in 1995. Don Mimmo De Tomaparish priest of the Madonna del Pozzo church in Trani, knows Fortunato Ferraraa prisoner in semi-freedom committed to offering a home to homeless people after a journey of personal redemption. The priest joins the project and progressively involves the parish community as well. Thus began years of reception in temporary locations, set up thanks to the work of volunteers, where people with very different stories found a place: ex-prisoners, homeless people, people with disabilities, addictions or serious mental fragility. «It was a pure adventure», recalls Don Mimmo, thinking back to that period.
As experience grows, the project finds an increasingly defined direction. The reception progressively focuses on people with mental health problemsin collaboration with the Mental Health Centre, creating a residential community. In 2000 the foundation stone of the Jobel Center was laid, inaugurated six years later. But Don Mimmo, from the beginning, imagined something that went beyond a simple reception structure. «Among the many forms of poverty», he says, «that of mental suffering is perhaps the most misunderstood». For this reason, next to the house, he wants an oratory, sports spaces and activities open to the city. «True integration is done like this. Living in the same place”he adds.
A WEEK THAT LASTS ALL YEAR ROUND
The week of the Festival is the moment in which this idea opens up to the city. The Jobel Center continues to be the home of its guests, but it also becomes a meeting place for actors, volunteers, audiences and companies from all over Italy. It is the same coexistence imagined by Don Mimmo, only on a larger scale.
This evening the curtain will fall on the eighteenth edition of the Festival and the winners will be announced. Tomorrow the stage will be dismantled, the audience will return home and the Jobel Center will resume its daily rhythm. Because the Festival lasts a week, but the coexistence that made it possible, however, continues all year round.
