Karly Bergmann is pleased to present her new shadow puppet show, La Contessa dei Muschi, for a public viewing as part of Rome Art Week. The show is 30 minutes long, and features the live music of the Roman musician, Livia Ferri. It is suitable for children, but was created for adults.

Brief Preview

Once Upon a Time, back when there were orchids adorning the abandoned walls of the Colosseo, there lived a woman, La Contessa Elisabetta Fiorini, who knew so much about moss that it was said she could communicate with the stuff… This is where our tale begins…

La Countessa de Muschi is a “historical fable” based on events in the life of a real Roman botanist, La Countessa Elisabetta Fiorini, who really did study mosses, and who was one of the few people who opposed the cleaning of the Colosseo in 1874.

But, as we know today, her attempts to save the orchids, trees, and moss within the Colosseo were not successful. And when it is not possible to save everything, it becomes a question of choice: What do we choose to preserve?

I am telling the story of Elisabetta Fiorinni, because I am personally invested in the challenge of choosing what is preserved. As a researcher and deviser of historically based work. As a feminist who seeks to uncover the forgotten histories of women who came before me. As an American living in Rome who is constantly fascinated by the ruins that the city has preserved and the ones left to time and nature.

This fable is told with shadow puppetry and music, and like all good fables, it posits a lesson: that life is made from many cycles of death and rebirth. We see this in the often tragic life of Fiorini, and in the history of the Colosseo, and where these stories intersect, we have La Contessa dei Muschi.

The show will begin at 20.00 and finish at 20.30

Studio CLAB will be open from 19.00 to 22.00, before and after the show