TRANZIT#6: “TO ARMS” – HOMBRE COLLETTIVO

8.8.2025.

25th October 2025 at 7.30 p.m.
HKD na Sušaku, Strossmayerova 1, Rijeka
Duration: 65 mins
Non-verbal theatre performance
⚟ WEAPON AND TOYS INDUSTRIES, IMPRESSIVE AUDIO-VISUAL THEATRE AND THEATRE OF OBJECTS, NEW ODYSSEY IN A DESERT
Tickets can be purchased online and at authorized Eventim sales points.

In the vision of the Italian theater collective Hombre Collettivo, there are many common traits that connect toys and weapons, and it is not easy to draw a clear line between them. One example they cite is a drone that can be both a toy and a lethal weapon. During their artistic research and work on the play, they discovered that the Italian toy industry and industry of weapons intended for general use (not for war) generate similar earnings annually, approximately 700 million euros. Besides these themes, the visual aspect of the performance is extremely important to them because we live in a time where we are under constant fire of images and visuals, and in a way, they also perceive images as a sort of weapon. Their goal is to raise awareness in the audience about this aspect of image/picture and thus guide them to critically observe the realities that surround us.

Directed by Riccardo Reina
Performers – Angela Forti, Aron Tewelde, Riccardo Reina, Yele Canali Ferrari
Light design – Gianni Staropoli
Light, sound and video technician – Lucia Ferrero
Scenography, objects, and costumes – Hombre Collettivo
Media literacy expert and collaborator – Leonardo Delfanti
Photographer – Alvise Crovato
Technical Manger – Riccardo Reina
Producer – Angela Forti
Production by Teatro Metastasio of Prato
In collaboration with the Malerba Cultural Association
Duration – 65 minutes

A ball that is both masked and armed to the teeth. An irreverent musical on the razor’s edge. A toy weapon for playing war. And finally, the desert. There was a time when war in Europe ceased and it was no longer a framework for interpreting reality. However, we soon realized that this was not a prolonged period but rather a fleeting moment concerning a tiny part of the world, with continent-like claims that geography cannot support. In 2001, a new real odyssey begins, or rather begins again. An odyssey that is not in space, but in the desert. More than just a title, Alle Armi represents a statement of purpose, a cry of alarm. It may also serve as a call to action, urging us to take up arms—though the question remains: which ones? By examining the toy as a bearer of significant theatrical and semantic possibilities, Alle Armi incorporates elements of object theatre, physical, nonverbal, and visual theatre, Hollywood films, musicals, television, video clips, and fashion. It aims not to discuss war in a rhetorical manner but to visually and analytically engage the audience in understanding the processes behind international arms production and export, using this as a lens to comprehend geopolitical dynamics and conflicts. Additionally, Alle Armi seeks to respond to the violence of imagery, encouraging viewers to learn, interpret, and assess these images beyond mere propaganda.

Alle Armi was born from the collaboration between Hombre Collettivo, a professional theatre company, and Leonardo Delfanti, a journalist and performer, with the aim of combining journalistic practices and media literacy with live performance and theatre. The project seeks to promote critical awareness and active participation among diverse audiences, focusing specifically on the international arms industry and market. More about this collaboration on ALLE ARMI.

Workshop for the audience: Play the War
Workshop leaders: Hombre Collettivo
Language: English
25th October 2025 from 5.00 to 6.30 p.m.
Reserve your place on krila.rezervacije@gmail.com.
Fee: free with a ticket for the performance.

From Communication in War Theaters to the Symbolic and Material Role of Toys: The

workshop aims to provide an introductory path to the theme of media literacy in relation

to communication in war theaters, addressing issues such as propaganda and the

instrumental and political use of storytelling and communication tools. The workshop

concludes with an introduction to the performative language of object theater, examining

the symbolic role and contradictions of the toy-weapon-object, particularly those objects

that connect childhood with war and armed violence.

Hombre Collettivo was founded in 2019, in Italy. The group is composed of Angela Forti (manager and performer, 1998), Agata Garbuio (performer, 1988), Riccardo Reina (director, technician, performer, 1986), Aron Tewelde (performer, 1996), Lucia Ferrero (technician, 1993) and Yele Canali Ferrari (performer, 1992). With their first show, Casa Nostra (Our Home), a nonverbal object and visual theatre show for teenagers and adults dealing with Italian history in the 90′ and the relationships between the Government and the Mafia, they won the Scenario Infanzia Award in 2020 and the Direction Under30 Critics Award in 2021. In 2023 they premiered with Alle Armi (To Arms), co-produced by Teatro Metastasio in Prato and Micro Macro ets, which, in 2024, began an intense international tour in Italy, Poland, India and Malaysia. In January 2025 they premiered with the collective project M.M.M.o.Ca, created together with the two Italian authors Caterina Marino and Benedetta Parisi and the supervision of Giuliano Scarpinato on the history and crisis of coffee production and consumption due to climate change. The project was created for the programme of Nova Gorica – Gorizia European Capital of Culture 2025.

Additional Info

Pre-Show Workshop: There will be a 90 minute workshop for interested audience before the performance on 25th Oct 2025
Post-Show Talk: There will be a 30-minute post-show talk after the performance on 25th Oct 2025. The moderator is Iva Nerina Sibila, theatre and dance critic, publicist and dance artist from Zagreb, Croatia.
Age Limit: Recommended for audiences aged 14 years and above.
Latecomers Policy: Latecomers will only be admitted at a suitable break in the performance.
Language: This is a non-verbal performance with some text displayed on LED bars.
Note: This performance contains smoking and high-frequency sounds.

TICKETS

TYPE	PARTER	ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
General	15 euros	Online and at the box office
Early bird	12 euros	Online before 1st September 2025
FESTIVAL ticket for 5 performances	50,00 euros	Only via email krila.rezervacije@gmail.com before 17th September 2025
Group Sales (Bundle for 4)	42,00 euros	Online and at the box office

In media

„Perhaps also due to so much storytelling, the first reaction when faced with someone who responds to the same urgency with different choices is astonishment. It happens, for example, with Alle armi, in its absolute premiere at the Teatro Fabbricone in Prato, staged by Hombre Collettivo under the direction of Riccardo Reina (1986): a work in which empathy does not arise from recognition (that of a story, or a political stance, which we also feel is ours), but from enchantment. And by “enchantment,” of course, we do not mean the unfortunate rhetoric of beauty, but the rapture in front of the choral balance between actors and stage tools: in this case, the craft of object theatre.

The first approach adopted by Alle armi is that of subtraction: less narrative, less self-awareness. What better choice, then, than to marginalise the written text, forcing it to a too-fast race on four small suspended screens? Angela Forti, Agata Garbuio, Aron Tewelde, and Reina himself – all four on stage, all four from that same generation suspended around 1990 – are left with not even a word, but the difficult task of a visual dramaturgy. It is through images, in fact, that Alle armi constructs meaning: it is between a Lego fortress and a toy helmet, between a toy soldier and a sword, that the absurdity of the weapon takes shape; that it becomes iconography.“ Alle armi. I giochi di guerra di Hombre Collettivo, Stratagemmi – Prospettive Teatrali, Apr 12, 2023 by Virginia Magnaghi.

Production: Creative Laboratory of Contemporary Theatre KRILA
Artistic Director and Curator: Ivana Peranić
Visual identity: Ana Somek
Design of promotional materials: Katarina Ratkaj
Financial Support: The City of Rijeka, Ministarstry of Culture and Meda of Republic of Croatia, Primorsko-goranska County, Kultura nova Foundation
Logistic Support: HKD na Sušaku, Savez udruga Molekula
Partner: Choreoscope – Barcelona Dance Film Festival
Media Support: H-Alter, Kulturpunkt.hr, Rijeka Danas, Novi list, teklić.hr svakidan, Rijeka Tourist Board

TRANZIT#6: “TO ARMS” – HOMBRE COLLETTIVO

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