It has now been 5 months in which I have had the pleasure of taking part in Human Beings workshop (undere the Theatre TRAILS project), starting in November 2023 and now planning to return to take part in my third performance of the final part.
A place which has given me so much more than I could have ever imagined, from meeting the most inspiring people, to which I now count some my closest friends, to last but not least my love for the performance arts. However as much as I would like to say that it had enchanted me the first time I had walked into this room, as much as it does now, it would be a lie.
Truthfully speaking, it was actually quite the opposite, I was scared to my bones but it wasn’t the people nor the practices but rather the side of me, which I had till then not discovered.
To the extent actually that in the beginning, I had arrived numerous times in front of the door at the entrance and had to in fact turn round and go back home. However now looking back I’m so glad I kept on going, as I soon realised that it was all in my head and once I performed in front of the people, I found this sort of calmness and emptiness, which to that point I had only ever felt in writing before. As much as it also was a personal journey for me, the part of Human Beings which has welded me the most was so much bigger than myself: the art of listening and the beauty of staying in the present moment. As in my opinion, instead of it being an escape of reality for a few hours, it has allowed people from all over the world with all sorts of stories filled with sorrow, anger, beauty and most of all courage come together in a place of acceptance.
Furthermore the variety of ways able to tell ones stories, has opened my eyes in so many ways, and made me realize that often our body is able to tell what our words can’t.
This all however can only be achieved by the constant precision and concentration which Danilo, Anna and Jhans have continuously worked with, wether being on the different performances or the weekly rehearsals. Over and over it has amazed me the equal importance given to each and every word spoken, wether it being wolof, english, french or Italian.
In conclusion I can say with complete certainty that Human Beings has completely overcome the thought of just doing theatre but rather has created a trusted community built on stories which have left such a significant imprint to me weeks and months later.
