This performance calls for the participation of a large group of anonymous men.
These men – called in from the street – are the unquestioned protagonists of the show, despite being unaware of it. Each of them, in order to participate in the show, has to sign a list of behavioural indications and promise to abide by it strictly. The rules set out their duties as “actors”.
Even after signing, the “actors” remain unaware of the performance.
A few minutes before the show begins, each “actor” is given a police uniform and a headset device. When the curtain rises, the “actors” must meticulously carry out the orders they are given over the earphones. These commands are received individually. Each policeman learns his orders in real time. Each action is to be done within the time defined by the order. The source of the orders remains offstage and cannot be seen by the spectators.
Director and creator of sets, lights and costumes, Romeo Castellucci is known over the world for creating a theatre based on the totality of arts and aimed at an integral perception of the work. His theatre proposes a dramaturgy that overturns the primacy of literature, making the stage a complex form of art containing extraordinarily rich images and expressed in an universally understandable language, such as music, sculpture, painting or architecture.
Castellucci's productions are regularly invited and presented by the most prestigious international theatres, festivals and opera houses of over sixty countries on all continents.
He was director of the Theatre section at the Venice Biennale, “Artiste Associé” at the Avignon Festival, and is currently “Grand Invité” at the Milano Triennale (2021-2024) and guest director at the Schaubühne in Berlin.
In summer 2022, Romeo Castellucci was commissioned for the production of Gustav Mahler’s Resurrection at Festival Aix-en-Provence, and for the production of Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard's Castle at Salzburg Festival, followed by Carl Orff’s De temporum fine comoedia. (Teodor Currentzis on the podium and Romeo Castellucci directing.) His theatre production Bros continues to tour with great success.
