Materia
Andrea Salustri
Italy/Germany
Circus | Dance | Physical Theatre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We can find it all around us but rarely even notice, the most common form of plastic – polystyrene.

In this remarkable piece of visual theatre, Andrea Salustri explores its possibilities bringing the material alive, our unlikely protagonist of the stage. As an almost unseen animator the artist reveals how we engage with objects, allowing them their own performative artistry, creating magic in front of our eyes. No narrative or weighty metaphors here, just extraordinary sensory evocations. You have to see it to believe it.

Now based in Berlin, Italian born Andrea Salustri trained as a juggler in Rome before studying dance and choreography in Berlin. A Laureate of the circusnext European Circus Label, Materia was a hit at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

‘All the polystyrene used during the performances of MATERIA will be collected and transported back to Berlin, where the company is based, to be composted by worms called Zophobas Morio. These worms possess bacterial enzymes in their gut that biodegrade polystyrene, making them able to digest it’ Andrea Salustri

INFO

Show Duration: 55min
Audience Suitability: 6+
Stage Size: Min 10m x 10m / Height clearance of 5m
Original version and adaptations: Adaptations, excerpts, and site specific reformulations of the performance for smaller or alternative venues, museums, and galleries, are possible.
Venue Capacity: Up to 600
Touring Party: 3

BOOKING CONTACT:
Pearl Herbert

CREDITS

Creation & performance: Andrea Salustri
Lighting design & technical direction: Michele Piazzi
Technical team: Michele Piazzi, Chamsedine Madec, Ivan Bartsch, Andrea Parolin, Andreas Harder
Sound design:
Federico Coderoni
Original Music: Ah! Kosmos, Federico Coderoni
Creative advisors: Kalle Nio, Roman Müller, Darragh McLoughlin, Alex Lempert, Benjamin Richter, Matthias Buhrow, Mariagiulia Serantoni
Co-production: PERPLX
Artistic Management: Valentina Barone

PRAISE FOR

Materia
“Objects develop a magical life of their own. You can’t escape the thrill of the never-seen-before.”
Saarbrücker Zeitung
“He is a very meticulous, precise, and necessarily devious author, who knows how to manipulate, through our fascination for the object, much more than objects, us.”
Jean-Michel Guy
“An object-theatre odyssey. Andrea Salustri gives polystyrene shapes a life of their own. A a wordless performance somewhere between juggling and choreography.”
The Guardian