Street of the Italians

1953. Girolamo Santocono is 5 years old. With his parents and thousands of others, he leaves his native Italy for Morlanwelz, in Belgium. Through his child's eyes, the mining town is a paradise and the sky not as gray as they say. Yet, in filigree, he perceives the problems of adults: mining accidents, uprooting, disillusionment… Three actors tell the story of Santocono: that of an immigration, of a generational conflict, of a racism that moves, and of a Europe that thought it was invincible. Rue des Italiens is the theatrical adaptation of the eponymous novel by Girolamo Santocono, an autobiographical narrative in which the author plunges us into the life of a child from immigration. The experience evokes striking events in labor history such as the tragedy of Bois du Cazier in 1956 and the general strike of the winter of 1960. It also highlights the wounds caused by difference and racism in all its stupidity and ignorance. A dive full of appetite into the past to approach the present with eyes wide open… Adaptation and direction Iacopo Bruno – Dramaturgy and direction Lara Ceulemans – Avec Pietro Pizzuti, Berdine Nusselder, Jessica Fanhan – Scenographic creation Clément Losson – Costume creation Rita Belova – Light creation Renaud Ceulemans – Musical creation Dario Bruno – Set creation Filippo Cavinato, Zoé Ceulemans and Benoît Vanderyse – Musical direction Dario Bruno – Technical direction Benoît Vanderyse Coproduction MARS – Mons arts of the stage, Théâtre des Martyrs, La Coop and Shelter Prod. With the support of the Fédération Wallonie-Brussels – General Administration of Culture, General Service of Artistic Creation, Direction du Théâtre, Commission Arts Vivants, of Tax Shelter.be, ING and the Tax Shelter du Gouvernement Belgian federal.