There are over three million people who deal with a relative suffering from degenerative dementia in Italy in Italy, whose main form is Alzheimer’s disease. Discovered in 1906, almost 120 years ago, an effective cure has not yet been found to slow down its course. This dramatic awareness weighs mainly on family members, forced to take care of a relative destined to lose themselves in the inexorable mental decline. It is a painful process that provides for the acceptance of radical changes in the family structure, as well as anxiety, fear, impotence towards the sense of loss that cannot be remedied.
Dario De Luca, Calabrian director, actor and playwright, wanted to dedicate a show to all those who take care of their loved ones every day. To give voice to the various “stadiums” of acceptance of the disease are a perpetual gruff and a young deacon of a small provincial town, where The beloved parish priest of the country, Don Antonio, begins to give the first signs of failure. The disease does not change only the relationship with the family, but also the one with God, giving life to a new and singular approach to spirituality.
Winner of the prize for the best direction at the theater and dramaturgy of the Teatro Tragos and reported to the Fersen Prize to the 2017 dramaturgy, The Gospel according to Antonio will be presented to Oscar Theater from January 30 to February 2nd. We interviewed the director De Luca to make us tell the genesis of the dramaturgical text.
Where does the idea of a show on Alzheimer’s come from?
«The show was born nine years ago, in 2016 and since then it has had great luck. He won some prizes, both for dramaturgy and direction. Everything was born from my approach to the world of Alzheimer’s sick. I was called to read stories within a medical conference organized by a doctor, a geriatric psychotherapist who works with Alzheimer’s sick and who had written small stories about his patients. These stories impressed me very much: I barely knew Alzheimer’s disease, I knew very little and these stories have opened a world, a world of delicacy, sweetness, poetry and pain. And then I wanted to deepen, refining my studies also through a visit to numerous specialized centers. This allowed me to write a script, something that could tell this disease ».
Why did he choose Don Antonio?
«I didn’t want to do a show where it was only the disease, I wanted there to be other reflections. And then I imagined a character who could open other considerations, who reflected the complexity of the situation. Initially I thought of a politician who loses his memory, a Prime Minister or the President of the Republic. But it wasn’t enough for me. So the figure of a parish priest came to mind, a priest. Among the stories I had read at that conference, there was the story of a provincial parish priest who had noticed his illness during Easter Sunday Mass, when instead of giving the hosts to his faithful he began to eat them for against his own. It seemed to me a crazy image, theatrically very strong. And from there I asked myself: but if it happens to a priest, what happens to his faith? What happens in a man who has very specific and well -rooted dogmas in his soul? The mystery that keeps him linked to Christ, which also keeps him linked, for example, to communion. What short circuit do you create? Consider confession, the place where the priest becomes a treasure chest of memories, memory, secrets. I needed to understand the intimacy of this disease a little. What happens, the memory bags that are lost, or the memory bags that remain. People who look after Alzheimer’s patients are called mom from the sick. Even if he is the son, even if he is the daughter, even if he is his brother or sister. Instinctively, Alzheimer’s patient calls the person who cares about him. Then there must be love bags that remain in our heads, so despite not recognizing the person we have alongside, we call it a mother ».
How does the loss in faith manifests?
«This man, Don Antonio, no longer recognizes Christ, yet despite this he manages to create a relationship with him, personal, very intimate, is a love relationship, for this reason the show is called the Gospel according to Antonio. A fifth Gospel written by a parish priest of Calabria. Don Antonio is a provincial parish priest, however he is the vicar of the bishop, so we see him at the beginning as a person very involved in humanitarian, social terms, is one who on behalf of the Curia deals with the landings of migrants on the coasts of the Calabria, who manages the properties seized from Ndrangheta on behalf of the Bishop. Then slowly see the loss of its reference points. At his side in the show there are his perpetual, who is then his sister, always remained unmarried, and this young deacon, flower, who is a very sweet, very delicate figure, who is close to him and who probably also finds modalities To talk to him, because perhaps his young age makes him lighter, so he accepts crazy things that Don Antonio makes and spite of his sister, who insists on, angry, because he cannot believe what is happening. I tried to build a story that could interrogate any viewer. Because in any case it is a reflection on pain, on human mercy that goes beyond the fact if one is sick of Alzheimer’s or not. There is a purely Catholic matrix, but reasoning is on the religious sense that every human being has ».
What is the state’s reaction to this show so far?
«I am always very impressed by how the public remains involved, both those who have had experiences with Alzheimer’s patients and who are not. Certain. I must say that it also happened that someone was annoyed. Not because they did not find themselves, but because obviously there was some discovered nerve. Some of these people saw the show a second time and they came to talk to me later. They told me they were outraged, angry at first and then then moved. This is because evidently then they were too close to the pain of their personal experience. It is in fact a show that speaks of Alzheimer’s, but also much more. We see Dina, the parish priest’s sister, who travels a bit all those who are the feelings of the caregiver. There is embarrassment, a tendent not to believe what you see. Then there is anger, even a dock. Probably those who lived it firsthand, find themselves and get nervous. We also did it at the Alzheimer Fest Festival. For example, I was afraid there, because of course they were all families who had had experience with Alzheimer’s. It is a time when we find ourselves together with the sick, families, in a more playful context. There too I had a beautiful answer. He pointed out to me that somehow I had hit my goal. Of course there are the moments when the disease reveals itself in its more funny side, so there are also cute, exhilarating moments. Then of course you can well imagine the game that can be created between faith and illness. There are very deep sights, but there are also quite comic moments ».
