Mario Martone  

Italy 
 

Using a peacetime situation to consider the nature of war, the densely layered drama of Teatro di guerra takes an intricate, four-pronged approach to its subject matter. It combines the clashes of an experimental theatre troupe, which is struggling to mount an ill-fated production, and those within the play itself, the battle zone of a poor, crime-plagued quarter of Naples and the unseen spectre of the Bosnian conflict. 

 The director's passion for the stage and for the creative process of theatre is evident in the attention which is given here to the exercises and discussion that go into the evolution of character and performance.  

As much as war in the larger sense, the film is also about cultural battles, touching on the narrow space left by bland mainstream theatre for the kind of unconventional stage work with which Martone forged his reputation. 

Rather than follow a conventional narrative, the film constructs a dramatic mosaic from events during the rehearsals and preparation in a run-down Naples theatre of a production of Aeschylus' tragedy of fratricidal war, Seven Against Thebes, which is to be staged in Sarajevo during the civil war.  

Shooting on Super 16 (later blown up to 35mm), Martone was able to incorporate into the film several weeks of rehearsals for his own spare, stylised production of the Greek tragedy, which was staged in Italy in 1996. These were distilled by editor Jacopo Quadri into a unique fusion of theatrical artifice and documentary that largely dictated the shape of Martone's ensemble drama. David Rooney