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Desdemona di Toni Morrison e Rokia Traoré e il teatro della diaspora africana

Authors

  • Valentina Rapetti

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13133/2239-1983/18086

Abstract

Desdemona (2012), a theatre adaptation of Othello with texts by African American writer Toni Morrison and music and lyrics by Malian singer-songwriter Rokia Traoré, has been interpreted as a feminist revision of the Shakespearean tragedy it springs from. Starting with a reflection on the transnational, transcultural and transmedial nature of its theatre pro- duction, whose staging involved artists from different geographical locations implicated in the phenomenon of the Black diaspora, this article moves on to discuss Desdemona as a work in which some dramaturgical and performance practices ascribable to radical and ma- terialist feminism coexist with themes, figures and forms of African diaspora theatre, a di- stinctively ritual artistic expression aimed at evoking the persistence of African spiritual and cultural retentions in Black diasporic communities. In Desdemona, the revision of Othello originates from the textual, visual and acoustic materialization of an African presence ma- nifesting itself through a black woman whose words, voice and body encourage a collective

meditation on the material, symbolic, and aesthetic legacy of colonialism and slavery.

Author Biography

Valentina Rapetti

Valentina Rapetti è assegnista di ricerca in Lingue e letterature angloamericane presso l’U- niversità degli Studi della Tuscia. Ha pubblicato articoli e saggi su Toni Morrison, Djanet Sears e August Wilson, interviste con Marina Carr e Peter Sellars e traduzioni di opere di Marina Carr, Morris Panych, Netta Syrett e Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Ha tradotto per produzioni teatrali italiane testi di drammaturgia contemporanea irlandese, inglese, canade- se e statunitense e il memoir di Anne Enright Making Babies: Stumbling into Motherhood. La sua attività di ricerca è rivolta principalmente al teatro contemporaneo di lingua inglese, alla traduzione teatrale, ai fenomeni di adattamento e alla letteratura afroamericana.

Published

2022-06-28

Versions

How to Cite

Rapetti, V. (2022). Desdemona di Toni Morrison e Rokia Traoré e il teatro della diaspora africana. Status Quaestionis, (22). https://doi.org/10.13133/2239-1983/18086