"If St. Francis were born today? I imagine him as an artist on tour with his show, which is then telling the Gospel. A very long tour with free admission in the squares: the testimonies of the time tell that when he arrived in the city, thousands gathered to listen to him.
Of course, I don't know how they did it without amplification. But this is a show full of questions, even doubts." Simone Cristicchi smiles as he anticipates his new adventure to ANSA: Franciscus. The madman who spoke to birds, a new theatrical stage of his personal research on the "world of the invisible, rather than spirituality" and that after the show on the figure of the preacher David Lazzaretti, after In search of happiness and Paradise from Dante, he dedicates himself to the most famous and beloved saint in the world, Francis of Assisi.
Production Centro Teatrale Bresciano, Accademia Perduta Romagna Teatri with Corvino Produzioni, written together with Simona Orlando, the show debuts at the Sociale in Brescia from 7 to 13 November, on tour until March 2024 (with stops also in Belluno, Ferrara, Rovereto, Bolzano, Rome). And at the dawn of the 800th anniversary of Francesco's death, which will be celebrated in 2026, it arrives in a season full of titles dedicated to him, from Fra' by Giovanni Scifoni to the return of Forza venite gente and the new L'asino e il bue by Ascanio Celestini.
"I was interested in telling it in my own way - explains Cristicchi - St. Francis was a revolutionary, an extremist, in love with life. He was the madman who talked to the birds and saw the beauty in every person and animal. Above all, he was a man in conflict with himself, and from that pain came a transformation. One cannot ignore, of course, his mystical experience, but in general he was a man who tried to understand the world and restore harmony with creation and therefore with the divine. He is not declared a heretic, because in reality he wants to refound the Church from within. He never questions the authority of the Pope. And then he is the man of relationship, of encounter: an important concept even today with what we are experiencing".
In a real musical, with "seven-eight new songs" written together with Amara and with music by Tony Canto, Cristicchi sings San Francesco alone on stage in a dialogue between himself and the Cencio, imaginary stracciarolo of the time, who speaks an Esperanto of Umbrian, French, Spanish and Latin.
"With Simona Orlandi we have done great and rigorous historical research - he continues - There are tens of thousands of biographies on Francis: he is perhaps the saint of whom the most has been written ever. But I was interested in his message, more than the biography. I asked myself: what can this extraordinary man who lived eight centuries ago tell us today? How timely is your message? The first theme is the choice to become poor, which does not mean misery, depriving oneself of the necessary, but of the superfluous. Exactly what we think today makes us happy and instead overwhelms us and takes away everything, time, attention. Then there is the theme of folly and holiness, which seem to be linked by a very thin thread". For the musical part, "I chose oriental melodies, Armenian and Persian music, which recall the spirituality that Francis knew when he went to meet the sultan of Egypt. And I added some Gregorian choir as a counterpoint. It is a metaphor for the union between these two great religions: Islam and Christianity. It's true - he smiles - I haven't released a record since 2013, but in the meantime I've written dozens of songs. People can come and hear them sung live at the theater: a choice a bit against the tide, as Gaber did at the time. Although this time I would like to release them, maybe in an album called Franciscus".
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