The Theatre of Romeo Castellucci and Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio: From Icon to Iconoclasm, from Word to Image, from Symbol to Allegory

This book focuses on Romeo Castellucci’s theatrical project, exploring the ethical and aesthetic framework determined by his reflection on the nature of the image. But why does a director whose fundamental artistic tool is the image deny this key conceptual notion?Rooted in his conscious distancing from iconoclasm in the 1980s, Castellucci frequently replaces this notion with the words ’symbol’, ’form’ and ’idea’.

As the first publication on the international market which presents Castellucci’s work from both historical and theoretical perspectives, this book systematically confronts the director’s discourse with other concepts related to his artistic project. Capturing the evolution of his theatre from icon to iconoclasm, word to image and symbol to allegory, the book explores experimental notions of staging alongside an ’emotional wave’, which serves as an animating principle of Castellucci’s revolutionary theatre.

Dorota Semenowicz is a graduate of the University of Paris III Sorbonne Nouvelle, France, with a PhD in humanities from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. She works in the Dramaturgy Department of the National Theatre in Warsaw and in programming for the Malta Festival Poznań. She has edited essay collections on Rodrigo Garcia, Flemish theatre, the relationship between aesthetics and ethics, and publishes articles and reviews about contemporary theatre.