There is a new theater space just a few meters from Termini Station. It offers a rich program of original and revisited classics, dance, and music, focusing on contemporary and social themes
(Numero 51 – Bimestre gen-feb 2024 – Pagina 5)
The tracks at Roma Termini Station are 29… then there is the 30th: Binario30, located at 159 via Giovanni Giolitti, right in front of Mercato Centrale food court. A track where theater, art, inclusion travel all weekends.
A simple entrance on the street, a discreet sign, posters and flyers on the door. Inside, a bare and essential space, where you can breathe a bit of the atmosphere and excitement of the historic Roman cellars of the 1970s. The premises are the same ones that, for about 10 years, have hosted the Horti Lamiani Association, which organizes contemporary art exhibitions and events. Since last year, the hall – renovated by the association – is also a theater.
From Friday to Sunday,
a new show every week
After graduating from the Gassman Workshop, working in the Rebibbia prison, and many experiences in different genres, Caterina Venturini has developed an idea of theater with a primarily political and civil significance. A choice that is reflected in the 22 titles on the program this season. For three days a week, from Friday to Sunday, shows are staged that are attentive to the themes of contemporaneity, multicultural and inclusive, on original texts and “revised classics”, with Italian and foreign artists and companies of inmates.
The artistic director is keen to point out that particular attention is paid to the different ethnicities that populate the Esquilino area. She also recommends the concert by the African percussionist Seydou Kienou, the classical Indian dance by Marianna Biadene, and the monologue about the story of a woman who is a guest of an SPRAR.
The season at Binario30 continues in February with a concert by Badara Seck, a Senegalese poet and singer of oral tradition, with the show “Me & Bakira”, the stories of two women in Bosnia in the 1990s, then a production by La Compagnia degli Eletti of the Orvieto House of Detention, made in collaboration with the University of Rome3. And so on, with a new show every week, until April.
An important “ray of light”
in a problematic street like via Giolitti
“The relationship with the neighborhood is consolidating, many people already know us, but many prefer the afternoon performances,” Caterina Venturini tells us. “The Esquilino, and in particular via Giolitti, is the gateway to the city, and it is a problematic, complex street, considered by many to be unsafe, especially at night. But we have not had any real security problems so far. Of course, we do a bit of surveillance on the street, it happens that we may have to move away the homeless person who raises his voice. The challenge, however, is precisely to create, in a difficult situation, a garrison, a space in which the magic of theater and the offer of culture can leave a mark, offering opportunities for knowledge and opportunities for confrontation.”
And in this regard, there is an idea, for now still a dream, to which Caterina Venturini holds very much. It is a territorial animation project that Binario30 Teatro is working on and which provides for events and initiatives shared by the other realities already present on the street: the Mercato Centrale food court, the Discoteca laziale music store, the Ambra Jovinelli Theater, the Italian school for foreigners Casa dei Diritti Sociali. It is called ‘ViaVaiGiolitti’: the dream is to make via Giolitti a “street of inclusive arts”, to requalify an area considered degraded and dangerous and transform the first street and the first neighborhood that you meet arriving in the capital, into an area of welcome, with a Binario30 as a place of arrival and departure, but also of welcome, exchange, and knowledge.
Paola Lupi
[BOX] INFO
Via Giovanni Giolitti 159-163
Single ticket 10 euros, Annual membership card 2 euros
For information and reservations: www.binario30teatro.it info@binario30teatro.it tel. 064462009 | mob. 351.7830744