Changing the World with Theatre: Dacia Maraini’s <i>Passi affrettati</i> in Australia

Abstract

In 2004 Dacia Maraini received an invitation from the Institute for International Research on Disarmament to create a theatre production as part of an Amnesty International campaign against violence against women and girls. Passi affrettati, a play made up of several sections, each based on an episode of violence against a woman or a girl, was meant to be performed only once, in Rome in 2005, but was soon re-staged by many professional and amateur casts, in Italy and abroad.<br> After Paris, Valencia, London and Zurich, in the last week of November 2016 Passi affrettati was performed in Sydney, premièring a new piece set in Australia, “Kubra”, whose protagonist was submitted to female genital mutilation as a child. In this article, after a brief description of the play’s structure, content and style, I focus on the Australian story, discussing both the specificity of the Australian production and the relationship of “Kubra” with previous works by Maraini. My contention is that Maraini’s new Australian story fits within the Italian writer’s body of works in terms of style as well as in its explicit purpose to bring to light and eliminate violence against women and girls throughout the world.