Balletto Civile's 'Bad Lambs' Explores Trauma and Redemption

Balletto Civile, led by choreographer and dancer Michela Lucenti, presents 'Bad Lambs,' a performance about a group of misfits calling themselves the 'Circle of Scapegrace and Damned Poets.' The work, which has already won awards, centers on a car accident that was actually a suicide by the group's leader, leaving survivors grappling with phantom wounds. The dramaturgy by Carlo Galiero is meticulous, with restrained acting from Maurizio Camilli and Emilio Vacca. Projections by Giorgina Pi/Blumotion provide dreamlike visuals. The cast includes Lucenti as the ghost's sister, Ambra Chiarello as a nurse, Giacomo Curti in a wheelchair, Aristide Rontini missing a limb, Natalia Vallebona, blind Giuseppe Comuniello, and Simone Zambelli in a solo. The piece questions the impossibility of saying goodbye and suggests that life needs its ghosts. Critic Stefano Tomassini notes that while the staging of their presence is resolved, the choreographed dance sometimes tames the chaos rather than unleashing its revolutionary potential, though Lucenti seems more interested in grace than suffering.