Poetry is a powerful tool in Mana Chuma Teatro’s work, in its quest for freedom, justice, and also beauty. In recent years, the company has extended its horizons towards other lands, with the Mediterranean as its fulcrum.
A year ago, we were hosted by Beit el Bennani, a documentation centre on Tunisian heritage, for the launch of our project “Words Like Waves” with the organization of a multilingual poetry reading. This time, we staged the performance “Come un granello di sabbia. Giuseppe Gulotta, storia di un innocente” with French surtitles, on Friday 1 November, and Saturday 2 November, as part of the 2024-2025 season at El Teatro.
Being included in the theatre season allowed the performance to gain greater visibility and reach a wider audience. It was a moving experience, enriched by the enthusiastic response from the audience in one of the most vibrant and committed theatres in the Tunisian capital. Both evenings saw a large turnout, made even more special by the presence of Giuseppe Gulotta, the protagonist of the story.
Significant attention was given by both the Ansa Med news agency (the Mediterranean branch of Ansa) and the Tunisian press: the news of the performance was covered by the TAP news agency and major newspapers such as La Presse, Le Quotidien, Kapitalis, and the online magazine Culture Tunisie.
These days of work in Tunis also provided a valuable opportunity to meet with civil society organisations, as well as artistic and cultural entities active in various sectors, with whom Mana Chuma Teatro aims to collaborate on future projects. Indeed, this trip to Tunis marked a further step towards our goal of fostering exchanges and building lasting relationships with grassroots organisations active in the Mediterranean region.
