Emma Dante's 'Pupo di zucchero' Reimagines Sicilian Death Ritual

Emma Dante's latest theater piece 'Pupo di zucchero. La festa dei morti' draws from Gianbattista Basile's 17th-century fairy tale collection 'Lo cunto de li cunti'. The performance centers on an old man who invites deceased relatives to dinner to combat loneliness, echoing the Sicilian tradition of the Feast of the Dead, where children receive sweets from the departed. Dante's version features Carmine Marignola as a Geppetto-like protagonist speaking only in dialect, surrounded by nine hyperkinetic performers who dance, sing, fight, and make love in sequences blurring theater and cinema. Cesare Inzerillo created life-sized sculptures for the finale, depicting death's obscene representation. The production is described as uneven yet extraordinary, challenging traditional interpretations of the non-childlike fable.