Mattias Andersson's 'Noi che abbiamo vissuto le nostre vite di nuovo' at Biennale Teatro

At the 2023 Biennale Teatro in Venice, Swedish director Mattias Andersson presented 'Noi che abbiamo vissuto le nostre vite di nuovo' (Vi som fick leva om våra liv) at the Teatro Alle Tese dell'Arsenale. The work is a documentary theatre piece based on a question posed to 137 Swedish citizens: 'What would you do if you could relive your life?' Andersson, former artistic director of Backa Theatre and the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, collaborated with anthropologists and sociologists to gather responses ranging from trivial regrets to profound guilt. The performance features 13 actors on a bare stage, reflecting Andersson's aesthetic minimalism. The piece engages with Nietzsche's eternal return and parallel universes, arguing that theatre can break the fixity of daily life and offer alternative existences. It contrasts with 'La Plaza' by El Conde de Torrefiel, also at the Biennale, which presents a theatre of death. Andersson asserts theatre's power to counteract media consumption and globalization's determinism.