from the novel by

Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz

adaptation and direction

Alvis Hermanis

choreography

Alla Sigalova

scene design

Andris Freibergs

costume design

Gianluca Sbicca

light design

Paolo Pollo Rodighiero

with

Sergio Romano, Laura Marinoni, Patrizia Punzo, Elena Arvigo, Irene Petris, Fabrizia Sacchi, Alice Torriani

assistant director

Thea Dellavalle

scene assistant designer

Elena Zykova

costume assistant designer

Gianluca Carrozza

interpreter

Santija Bieza

translation of the adaptation

Carla Pollastrelli

technical director

Salvo Di Martina

stage manager

Paolo Betta

stage hands

Salvo Di Martina, Siro Chiuchiu

electricians

Paolo Pollo Rodighiero, Tommaso Checcucci

sound technician

Marco Olivieri

wardrobe mistress

Giada Fornaciari

props

Silvia Martin

press office

Silvia Pacciarini

production managers

Cosetta Nicolini, Marisa Villa

set building

Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione

scene building manager

Mauro Brecciaroli

scene painting and construction

Rinaldo Rinaldi

assistants

Keiko Shiraishi, Andrea Grazia

trainee assistant director

Giacomo Veronesi

journal

Margherita Mauro

costume workshop

G.P. 11

wigs

Mario Audello

photos

Marcello Norberth

production

Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione, Programma Cultura dell'Unione Europea nell'ambito del Progetto Prospero, Teatro Stabile di Napoli, Nuova Scena Arena del Sole - Teatro Stabile di Bologna

The novel The Young Ladies of Wilko by Polish writer Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz has captivated me since my student days, in which I read it for the first time.
The story, which sees Wiktor Ruben return to the country home where he had lived fifteen years earlier as a tutor to a family of 6 sisters, inspires me for a variety of reasons. Obviously, there is the situation itself: a man and six women, a circumstance in itself that is rather particular and gives rise to the imagination. While adapting this work for the stage against an Italian backdrop it was impossible not to be reminded of Federico Fellini’s film City of Women, in which Marcello Mastroianni played the lead.
However, Iwaszkiewicz’s text features other qualities and characteristics: firstly, it is extraordinarily poetic, almost poetry in prose form. Hence in adapting this literary work for the stage we were faced with a challenge: that of discovering whether it would be possible to convey its poetry. In addition, this text is strikingly reminiscent of the writings of Marcel Proust, with its themes of memories, details, smells, sensations and fleeting touches.
The past and its memories have always been the central focus of my plays. And this novel by Iwaszkiewicz is about this and this alone. Melancholy and nostalgia are not merely melodramatic elements. They are qualities that have always characterized Europe’s cultural awareness, or at least that’s how it was until the end of the 20th century.
Now it’s the 21st century and we are experiencing great changes in European awareness. One might say that we are currently witnessing the demise of good old Europe. And any artistic work created today, in this context, smacks of an obituary, an obituary on the perception of life in old Europe. Only the memories remain.
The author wrote this work after the First World War. The hero, Wiktor, has recently returned from the front. War plays an important part in this novel. When we first began work on the adaptation of this novel to the stage we decided to set the action in a different time and place, that is to say to the year 1947 at the end of the Second World War. The main reason for this is due to the characteristics of women’s fashion in the worn-torn Forties. It was no coincidence that the women’s fashion of the era was also masculine, bordering on the blunt, and very similar to the military style, but sexy and erotic at the same time.
Alvis Hermanis



Alvis Hermanis was born in 1965. He studied acting in Latvia, graduating from the State Conservatory in 1988. During the Eighties he was a film and stage actor and in 1990 he moved across to directing. Since 1997 he has been the creative director and general manager of the New Riga Theatre, where he has put on countless productions.
Acclaimed as one of Europe’s most interesting and innovative directors for his dramatizations, characterized by a blend of theatrical styles and aesthetic effects - a hybrid of references and images that fuse Stanislavskij with Brecht, Alvis Hermanis creates original combinations of images and symbols from different historical and cultural eras by delving into the cultural heritage of East and West.
Hermanis’ plays have been put on at such major international festivals as Edinburgh, the KunstenFestival des Arts in Brussels, the Wiener Festwochen in Vienna and the Festival d’Avignon, as well as at prestigious European Theatres. In Modena he has presented By Gorky and Sonja in two editions of VIE Scena Contemporanea Festival.
Winner of several prestigious awards, including the Montblanc Young Directors Project Prize and the IX edition of the Europe Prize New Theatrical Realities in 2007, Hermanis is also an actor, playwright and set designer.
Accustomed to working with performers who act in their mother tongue, he has directed many plays in Europe. This is his first play in the Italian language.