Il Teatro Sociale di Camogli’s history reflects the history of Camogli, once the home port of one of Europe’s largest merchant sailing ship fleets, and now a seaside resort and residential town in the orbit of Genoa. Created for the community and funded by a consortium of families from Camogli, the theatre was inaugurated in 1876 with a performance of Guiseppe Verdi’s Ernani. Il Teatro Sociale di Camogli had its heyday from the 1870s through the 1880s. The consortium continue to own the premises, which are governed by historic preservation laws. Modified and restored in the 1930s, the theatre underwent limited structural restoration in the 1980s. A major restoration is scheduled to begin in 2010.

The theatre is a familiar landmark. I often walked by it, not paying much attention to its weathered facade and hulking mass, thinking it was an abandoned building. I had never gone inside until one day a friend who had the key invited me to join her and have a look around. Later she told me it was her way of inviting me to photograph the theatre, since she knew I would be captivated by its mood and space. It was like walking into a Piranesi print or stumbling around an ancient ruin: only the faint fluttering of trapped pigeons disturbed the silence. I asked if I could spend time in the theatre to photograph it before its restoration. My friend smiled and said keys would be available and I could come and go at my leisure.

I decided to let the light lead me around the space, revealing thresholds, dusty fingerprints on damask upholstery, and pained masks. All the masks in the theatre are tragic. The architect forgot to include the smiling masks of comedy. Abandoned staircases rose toward empty dressing rooms and blacked-out windows. Faint streaks of light picked out a dark wooden upright in the orchestra pit holding up the floorboards of the stage... I focused on the upright, liking its abstract quality and also the evocative Italian expression for orchestra pit— il golfo mistico.

Seeing is complex. During the process of photographing the theater I realized that my initial desire to document the space in a straightforward way had merged with a more abstract desire to mark time by following the play of light over a period of two full days. The result is Chiaroscuro.

Read the essay © Farida Simonetti
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