Manicomio

“One day, perhaps soon. One day, I will tear away the anchor that keeps my ship far from the seas.”
(Henri Michaux, The Clown)

Manicomio (Italian) translates as “madhouse” or “lunatic asylum.”

At the end of the 1970s, Italy was confronted with the gradual dismantling of psychiatric hospitals. Photographer Raymond Depardon documented several asylums across the country, and in particular the final days of San Clemente. It was in this hospital, located on a small island in the Venetian lagoon, that he created photographs capable of revealing, better than a dozen scholarly theses, the ordinary horror of such places. Through these images, Depardon lays bare the immense distress of the patients and the deep disarray of those around them.

This subject resonates deeply with the team of Théâtre d’Un Jour and its artistic director Patrick Masset. MANICOMIO emerged from this reflection: a performance exploring contemporary forms of confinement, at a time when our institutions once again seem to prioritize control over well-being.

The project was created through encounters in places shaped by constraint and institutional control, including the Vivalia psychiatric hospital in Bertrix, the Val de Meuse nursing home in Givet (France), the Fedasil Centre in Poelkapelle (West Flanders), and Athanor in Dave. Together with his team of circus artists, MANICOMIO explores bodies and life paths confronted with imposed rules, norms, and spaces.