About Lemnos / Rome, 22 March 2022. Dialogue by Mario Martone and Giorgina Pi coordinated by Massimo Fusillo at the Angelo Mai

Abstract

The contribution is the transcript of the dialogue between Mario Martone and Giorgina Pi coordinated by Massimo Fusillo and held at the Angelo Mai in Rome (March 22 nd , 2022). It shows their distinct approaches to rewriting the myth of Philoctetes. Martone reflects on his choice of the tragedy after his avant-garde phase, drawn by its political resonance. He centres his interpretation on Neoptolemus, reimagined as the emblem of a post-heroic “second generation” crushed under the weight of mythical fathers. His dramaturgy weaves together ancient and modern quotations to explore the transition “from resisting to existing.” Pi, on the other hand,approaches Philoctetes through her earlier work on Tiresias and a project on the memory of the Genoa G8 protests. Her rewriting transforms the protagonist into a female figure, influenced by Adrienne Rich, and relocates the setting to Makronisos, a concentration camp for Greek anti-fascists. Despite their differences, both directors converge in a reflection on contemporary “political melancholy” and on the potential of theatre as a space to forge new languages capable of reading present-day conflicts through an intersectional lens.