A blog by Anne-Marie Creamer for ‘The Treatment of Six Characters’, to begin production during residency at the British School at Rome, in Autumn 2012. ‘The Treatment of Six Characters’ refers to an unmade film Italian playwright Luigi Pirandello wanted to make based on his seminal 1921 meta-play ‘Six Characters in Search of an Author’. Pirandello tried and failed 39 times to get this work made during his lifetime.
112% funded, as promised my Kickstarter backers rollcall, plus others thanks.
The Kickstarter campaign is now finished and has been fantastically successful, coming in at 112%!! It has been a great time: revealing, surprising and seems also to have become a catalyst for things. As promised here is a roll call and list of thank-yous for those who have been directly backed or supported the campaign as well as those who have been more broadly supportive. It all means a lot. Thank-you! Now I have to make the work, more on that later.
Kickstarter Backers:
Michele Spoonley, Ingrid Swenson, Jane Hamilton Whatling, Bev Broadhead, Mary Heagney, Prof Marina Wallace, Maziar Raein, Madeleine Creamer, Kelly Chorpening, Cooper Troxell, Jennet Thomas, Rebecca Fortnum, Carrie Creamer, Philomena and Bertie Creamer, Klaus Wehner, Karen David, Charlene Curran, Lars Sture, Sue Kennington, Jasmina Bosnjak, Karen Wilkinson, Margaret, Des, Adie, James and Sean Creamer, Jordan McKenzie, Stephen Felmingham, Jenny Mellings, Abbi Torance, Mia Jackson, Joelene Molloy, Anna Allalouf, Annette Robinson, Sarah Harbridge, Alex Bradley, Fabio Piras, Tamiko O’Brien, John Griffin, Helena Davey, Louisa Minkin, Neil Johnson, Steven Eastwood, Tania Kovats, Jordan Baseman, Sally Payen, Gary Thomas, Lee Trimming, Tina O’Connell, Georgina Turner, Angela de la Cruz, Christina Bryant, Sonia Boyce, Thierry de Duve, Simon Wells, Axel Lapp, Petra Hudcova, Chris Agnew, Alan Magee, Massimo de Cristofaro, Judith Tucker, Michael Petry, Craig Nicholls, Carolyn Gowdy, Greysi De Los Santos, Nina Coulson, Gilane Tawadros, James Van der Pool and Jane Hardy.
The Board of Directors of the Pirandello Society of America, Sister Nora Wall, Sister Eileen Lee.
Special thanks to;
Prof Marina Wallace, Karen Wilkinson, Margaret & Des Creamer, Anna Allalouf, Fabio Piras, Carrie Creamer, Craig Nicholls, Klaus Wehner, Philomena and Bertie Creamer and John Griffin.
Also thanks to:
SE Barnet, Lars Sture, Ingrid Swenson, Ineke Wanderwal, Carrie Creamer, Jacopo Benci, Francesco Buonerba, John Stezaker, Maria Pia Malvezzi, Clair Joy, Sandie Macrae, Flick Allen, Mark McDonald, Simon Morley, Jana O’Keefe Bazzoni, Michal Pechoucek, Stefano Pasquini, Sarra Brill, Will Cobbing, Stuart Croft, Zarina Bhimji, Franceca Pivano, James Swinson, Mark McDonald, and James Mooney.
I would like to offer my delight and huge thanks to the following people
who have supported my Kickstarter Project so far;
Alex Bradley
Bev Broadhead
Jasmina Bosnjak
Kelly Chorpening
Carrie Creamer
Madeleine Creamer
Philomena & Bertie Creamer
Charlene Curran
Karen David
Stephen Felmingham
Rebecca Fortnum
Sue Kennington
Jane Hamilton Whatling
Mary Heagney
Mia Jackson
Jordan McKenzie
Jenny Mellings
Jolene Molloy
Maziar Raein
Annette Robinson
Michele Spoonley
Lars Sture
Ingrid Swenson
Jennet Thomas
Cooper Troxell
Klaus Wehner
Special Mentions:
Anna Allalouf
Marina Wallace
Abbi Torrance
Karen Wilkinson
Des and Margaret Creamer & Adie, James, and Sean Creamer
The list is still growing and we are nearing the final goal, thanks to these lovely lovely people.
Eternally grateful,
Anne-Marie
On Wednesday I gave a short lecture about my Pirandello project at the British School at Rome during which I described the 1921 premier of Pirandello’s ‘Six Characters in Search of an Author’ at the Teatro Valle. I showed an extract of a recorded staging of the play in 1964 that took place on the same theatre, a majestic early eighteenth century theatre that has also premiered Mozart, Rossini, and many other important cultural works. I got very good feedback from those present and it’s gratifying to see that an Italian audience also view my project with enthusiasm. Afterwards I was told that Teatro Valle is currently under occupation with actors, lighting engineers keeping the building open 24 hours day. At 11pm we went straight away to visit the theatre and saw that rehearsals and plays can happen at any time as an alternative model is created about how to run a cultural organization, a society. We met some of those involved, which has gathered attention throughout Italy and is characterized as Italy’s own Velvet Revolution supported by international filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola, composers Ennio Morricone and others. Certainly it was an honour to speak with people involved and a delight to see their passion, dedication and respect for the Teatro Valle, their determination to propose an alternative way to fund arts projects and to resist creeping privatization. I was invited onto the stage and so at last I got to stand on the same spot where Pirandello’s characters’ first appeared ninety years ago. Finally! Of course I am arranging to go back: they don’t know it yet but I am going to film there. Serendipity is on my side.
First visit to the ‘Lo Studio di Luigi Pirandello’
Today I spent some of today with Lucia and Dina of ‘Lo Studio di Luigi Pirandello’, which is fostered by the remaining Pirandello family. They were very nice to me and gave me a personal tour at one point handing me Pirandello’s fountain pen to hold which he used to write several of his plays so that I saw that the nib was made in the image of the Eiffel Tower. They also presented me with two small paintings that Pirandello had made. I informally introduced my project to them and they were very kind and generous. So a good beginning. Good news also that a young art historian in Rome, Francesco Buonerba, has approached me to offer support to the wider project. Although I have been delighted to learn that on my behalf the British School at Rome can make any formal introduction in Rome I need to support my work.
I begin making the drawings relative to the ‘Treatment for Six Characters’ text from the end of this week, and from there the project takes physical shape
I have arrived in Rome
I have arrived in Rome on September 27th.and will be in Rome for a few months and so will have time to do the project as planned in the time after this Kickstarter project ends.
It’s been an intense week, getting settled in , realizing how bad my Italian is, giving a talk on my project on Pirandello and seeing the projects that the others are doing. Its a very international crowd; there are researchers here from Yale, Canada, Berlin, Austria, Australia, and of course the UK. More on this later though.
For now here is a picture of my studio. All lovely.
I have been settling in and getting used to my new beautiful studio. I will post up-dates here and on Facebook and also the project blog regularly. Of course if you have any questions do feel free to get in touch.
Best, for now, Anne-marie
London based artist and lecturer.
