Patria, The Town of Cain and Abel

Running Time: 60 min, In Italian with English Supertitles

PATRIA tells the story of Italy’s Years of Lead through the eyes of a “blank” character, a Dostoevskian fool whom everyone considers the village idiot. After hitting his head as a child—perhaps because of his brother—he is called Abel; he frantically searches for traces of his brother Cain, who disappeared in a railway attack (the Italicus massacre). The history of Italy from the postwar period to the present day is seen through the eyes of two brothers who have mysteriously crossed paths with the bloodiest events in Italian history: massacres, coups, terrorism, lobbies, mafias, secret services—those affairs that helped shape the Italy of our grandparents into the country we will leave to our children. The story of Italy is inevitably tragicomic, where the memories of heroes and villains become inseparably intertwined, just like the stories of our two brothers. A family biography that ultimately becomes the biography of a nation.

Conceived by Fabio Banfo, Giacomo Ferraù e Giulia Viana
Dramaturg Fabio Banfo, Directed by Giacomo Ferraù
Performed by Fabio Banfo
A co-production by Centro Teatrale MaMiMò / Eco di fondoWith the collaboration of the Flamigni Archive

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY