IT

C'era una volta

a grotesque revue about fairy tales

They had ready red-hot iron shoes,
in which she had to dance until she fell down dead.
(Brothers Grimm, ‘Snow White’)

C’era una volta, the new performance by Ondadurto Teatro, is much more than just another show about princesses and heroes.
The fairytales of our imagination – fixed in our minds but blurred by watered-down retellings – will be called on and transformed, shifting the usual lines between Good and Evil.

C’era una volta traces the forgotten roots of well-known fairytales, blending stories and legends from the traditions of great authors, from the Brothers Grimm to Lewis Carroll, and inspired by Johann Karl August Musäus and Hans Christian Andersen. These are tales retold in a noir atmosphere – and with a bittersweet taste.

C’era una volta is a colourful and enchanting revue, a multimedia show in which the technology serves to expand the audience’s experience. It is a contemporary play that recalls an ancient tradition, doing away with the ‘good’ and ‘sweet’ style of the modern fairytale.In this performance we will discover the dark side of Red Riding Hood. Perhaps Snow White, too, hides her own secret and a not so ‘pure’ nature… And why not imagine light, sweet, melancholic sides for the Witches and Stepmothers?

Formed in 2004, Ondadurto Teatro is a theatre company based in Rome and directed by founders Marco Paciotti and Lorenzo Pasquali. The company’s artistic creations are defined by movement, acrobatics, dance-theatre, and sometimes a little text, combined with scenic machines, fireworks, water games, video and music. Ondadurto Teatro create touring shows and in situ events, working both indoors and out. They also produce and programme festivals (such as inEURoff in Rome), organise workshops and laboratories for children, and participate in EU projects.