VOiCE OVER

Dialogues between a MiMO and its voice

by and with Matteo Cionini

When I speak, to whom am I really giving voice?
Is the voice that speaks really my voice?

An exploration inside the human psyche begins with these questions, with a separation occurring on stage between the body and the voice, which dialogue and clash representing different parts of the human being.

It is a search for the authentic voice, for that Ego that is always laboriously balancing the personalities that make up our “social” being, the voices from within that are pushing to come out, and the endless voices from the outside world at every moment filling our heads with stimuli.

This cacophony of voices evokes the image of Odysseus and the Sirens, whose myth is integrated into the narrative.

Finding one’s inner voice is necessary and means above all to listen to oneself, to take the time to understand oneself, to give space to the inner child that this overly adult world tends to suppress.

We find ourselves living in an age characterized by parceled, atomized and virtualized human relationships, but also by perennial and constant stimulation; finding oneself is difficult; but it is of absolute importance, because it means finding the center of gravity to be able to stably accommodate everything else, and establish healthier social relationships.

This performance starts from a stage cue, the body-voice separation, realized through mimic-gestural language and different techniques of theatrical audio editing also generative through AI, and explores human psychology through the gaze of the Gestalt school.

The show explores territories where mimic-gestural art becomes a tool in the service of a dramaturgical necessity.

Indeed, the body, in separation from the voice, takes on a character that goes out to meet the inner child, to that part of us that demands freedom, spontaneity, presence (being here and now).

“Classical” MiMO is present, for example, to talk about the cages in which we find ourselves locked, as we choose to adhere to the image others have of us. Or to create moments when it is not words but gestures that create symbolic and evocative images, speaking to an unconscious zone of the viewer.

The show alternates between dramatic, comic, virtuosic and surreal moments, in a ‘dynamic alternation intended to promote effective audience enjoyment.

It is aimed at an audience of adults, young adults and teenagers.

Duration: 50 minutes