The tenth edition of "Lucido Festival" kicks off at the T Hotel in Cagliari

The program. The tenth edition of the Lucido Festival will officially begin today at 6:30 pm on the suggestive and panoramic top floor of the prestigious hotel in Cagliari, with the inauguration entrusted via video link to MEP and activist Ilaria Salis , patroness of this year's edition that recognizes itself in the title "The exception that makes excellence", which celebrates the uniqueness and value of artistic, cultural and political paths outside the box, capable of inspiring and bringing about positive change in society. The festival, founded with the aim of bringing art to the fore as a tool for dialogue and comparison, sees Ilaria Salis as a symbolic figure: an exception capable of transmitting a message of ethical and artistic "excellence", demonstrating that the courage to stand out can become an example and inspiration for the community.

Music will take center stage next with the concert “Come le notti di Broadway” by and with Roberta Gaviano and Matteo Siddi , on stage with a repertoire of iconic songs that draw heavily from the history of American musicals. An immersive experience in the sounds of Broadway, with the duo’s exclusive vocal arrangements.

At 7 pm, actress Rose Aste will perform “I am not a lady” : what are the difficulties that a non-binary person faces in everyday life? There is certainly no shortage of discrimination from straight and cis people, but it is less common to think about the discrimination that occurs within the queer community itself. In this short monologue, Rose Aste talks about what it means to have a non-conforming gender identity and at the same time appear to others as a “basic straight white woman”.

Fifteen minutes later ( at 7:15 pm ) the show “Articoli per Signore” will continue, by and with Elisa Pistis with the production of the Teatro Insonne , which draws heavily from important research by the journalist Maria Francesca Chiappe . With irony and sarcasm, the spectator will be accompanied through introductions and news articles from different eras, with different acting methods and coherent and carefully selected musical suggestions by the director Annalisa Bianco . Not a “lesson” on our past, but an ironic and fun way to remember our past and act on our present.

At 7:30 pm , a reduced version of “Petricore” will debut, a new performance by Compagnia LucidoSottile, directed by Tiziana Troja , performed by Michela Sale Musio and Riccardo Lai , with music by Andrea Piraz . The work explores the concept of belonging, alienation and violence, using a language that oscillates between brutal reality and an almost dreamlike dimension. The text, full of tension and rich in powerful images, merges with the music and lights to create an immersive atmosphere, in which the boundaries between the real and the surreal are blurred. The minimalist scenography and the targeted use of lights emphasize the characters' inner journey, inviting the spectator to live an intense and cathartic experience.

Actor and director Giuseppe Scoditti will be the protagonist at 8:30 pm in his “Paolo Sorrentino Vieni devo dirti una cosa” , the desperate attempt of a man willing to do anything to meet his idol. A story that, although starting from the world of entertainment, becomes a universal story about the power of dreams. “And if people say that your dreams are crazy if they laugh at what you think you can do, let them do it. Because what they fail to understand is that calling a dream crazy is not an insult. It's a compliment. Don't ask yourself if your dreams are crazy, ask yourself if they are crazy enough”, say the director's notes.

Tomorrow ( Saturday 16 November ) the evening will open as usual at 6pm with a welcome aperitif by Lucide, which will be the prelude to the performance by Fabio Marceddu, Antonello Murgia (Teatro dallarmadio) and Michela Atzeni with “Skoncerto Lucido” , a journey through Italy, starting from what is no longer there and from what could be in the immediate future. The land with the highest “artistic archaeological” rate, risks remaining or becoming the Cinderella of Europe, a refuge for waste, new energy speculation, and senseless choices that put its very intrinsic nature at risk. Sconcerto lucido, to polish from the earth, the tinsel and the superstructures our immense heritage that represents the entire Italian people.

At 7:15 p.m. , Lucido Festival will welcome actress Aizzah Fatima back on stage with “Google, It’s Complicated!” , directed by Nana Dakin and written by Salma S. Zohdi. The show, produced in partnership with the New York festival “OnStage! 2024,” offers a humorous, honest, and uplifting look at the joys and challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated tech industry. The author brings to life more than 30 characters who hint at countless stories similar to hers, not only in the tech industry, but in the world at large, where women are trying to climb corporate ladders that were never built for them.

The last appointment of the evening will be at 9 pm with “Dramaqueen” by stand-up comedian and actress Laura Formenti , a lifelong drama told in a hilarious monologue. Dreams seen as failures by parents, pathological shyness, money that is never enough, precarious jobs, loft beds and loves... which loves? What would we laugh about if there were no dramas? By cutting out all the boring parts, what remains of our lives are laughter and tragedies. By cutting out the tragedies, only laughter.

On Sunday 17 November at midday the show “Petricore” will be performed again, this time in its full version, directed by Tiziana Troja , performed by Michela Sale Musio and Riccardo Lai , with music by Andrea Piraz.

Another stand-up comedian will take centre stage at 7pm : Laura Pusceddu will perform in the show “Gonadi e altre parti del mondo” (Gonads and other parts of the world) , with a text that deals with the relationship between genders and sexes from the point of view of a trans girl and veers from personal experience, from childhood and the place where one lived, to the current difficulties of being a man, a woman and something else.

The curtain on the tenth edition of the Lucido Festival will fall at 9 pm with the LucidoSottile Company on stage with “Donne, Donnette, Donnacce!” , written, directed and choreographed by Tiziana Troja, with the same on stage supported by Michela Sale Musio, Angelo Trofa, Valentina Fadda, Michele Sarti, Carla Collu, Michela Laconi, Valentina Puddu, Luca Massidda and Luca Cappai. Two actresses who make up a comic duo on the verge of a nervous breakdown try to re-propose themselves in an artistic project of the next production, this time in an individual capacity. Confidences, rivalries, hypocrisy, clichés and low blows of the world of entertainment, in a self-deprecating and brilliant comedy with tragically comical implications. The surprise ending will overturn the fate of the comedy and the meaning of their careers.