L’arte della narrazione orale del cuntu nella scena contemporanea siciliana

Abstract

The entire work examined the peculiar characteristics of oral narration in the contemporary Sicilian scene, through a journey on the art of cunto, framed both in pure narration, mainly represented by the work of Mimmo Cuticchio, and in dramaturgical experimentation, mainly represented by Vincenzo Pirrotta’s work. It regards the epic chivalric stories that took place in the squares and which, thanks to the new generation of cuntisti, has arrived in the theater, through a dramaturgical experimentation of considerable interest. In order to investigate the phenomenon, the peculiar characteristics of the performance techniques in the art of oral narration were analysed; the expressive functions of orality on stage; the sounds of the archaic Sicilian world; the narrative and spectacular genres not only in their specificity but also in the hybridization generated by their intersection; the factors that influence the transposition of a purely oral story onto the stage were examined; the relationship between actor and spectator was studied both in pure narration and in dramaturgical experiments. In order to capture the peculiar pluricode and plurisemic characteristic inherent both in the pure narration and in the transposition into the dramaturgical scene, a semiotic and anthropological approach was chosen. The expressive functions of orality on stage were analyzed through the use of audiovisual documents. Anthropological insights have, however, proven to be of considerable importance for defining not only the main characteristics of oral narration, the way in which the mind functions, the mnemotechnical ability of the cuntista, the particular hypnotic effect induced by rhythmic, verbal, vocal modules, instrumental and physical, used in archaic performance practices or in any case particularly linked to the oral tradition, but also the explication of what survives today of that world and what still allows us today to speak in terms of “oral performance”, even in presence of shows created starting from a written text. Finally, the textual analysis of some segments of both Cuticchio’s and Pirrotta’s cunti was carried out, starting from Greimas’ theories on the generation of meaning. If from a historical and phylogenetic point of view it was impossible to build a bridge between the various fabulatory experiences developed in Sicily, this did not hinder the possibility of observing them, studying them and drawing connections, according to the main characteristic that unites them: the character of orality. The study has also shown that the cuntu, when arriving in the theatre, underwent an interesting evolution, pushing towards a greater dramatization of the word, so much so that, contrary to what happens with the cuntu artists of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the representation is more agitated than narrated. In conclusion, from the study carried out it emerged that the cuntu, while retaining from an expressive point of view the strong story-telling, rhythmic and musical charge that distinguishes oral performances, has undergone an evolution over time, moving towards a greater dramatization and spectacularization of the word.