“Funky Pudding: your waste may be used against you”

by Silvia Musso

Between 2008 and 2009, coinciding with the so-called garbage crisis plaguing Naples and Campania, from the imagination of the actor Luigi Ciotta begins to take shape the idea of an obese clownish character, almost deformed, whose only interest is to eat and live in a garbage can in the street to freely feed himself with everything people throw away.

From this early idea, under the direction of Philip Radice, Funky Pudding was developed. It is a street satirical show of the French-Italian Society En Croq and it is complaint about the food waste and junk food that troughout an obese chef with his kitchen located inside a large garbage can.

Parody of culinary television programs, and of the rituals around food and the relationship of the individual with their own waste, from autumn 2009, thanks to the involvement of the actress Dedieu Aurélia Paris, the show has added a second clown and extends the faced themes to the problem of consumerism by referring not only to Italy but to an international context.

«For us, the theater, as well as art in general - Luigi Ciotta says - is a way of talking and communicating with people and at the same time reflecting on the problems of society, so even those related to the environment. It 's always been in this way in history, a bit less perhaps in the contemporary world; then each artist chooses the most appropriate way to do it, ours is a satirical approach to the problem of waste and the consumer society. We have chosen the street theater trying to touch an audience as diverse as possible, through a very popular form of art».

The show, from its beginnings, has been welcomed both by critics and audience with the awarding of many prizes. The impact on the audience is strong: people start laughing for the grotesque and the absurdity of the situation and as the show progresses the laughter becomes even more conscious and sometimes bitter. The show does not only let you laugh, but it let you reflect and discuss.

The use of the theater could be very useful in environmental communication campaigns (in this case, for example on recycling or waste reduction), as a complement to the more usual channels such as posters, billboards, radio spots, public meetings etc. and also Ciotti seems to agree: «From the experience we're doing with this show, I would say that the theater is a very valuable tool of communication, and can be excellent as a supplement to social issues of various kinds. Often the "direct and frank" information has one side of "guiltiness", on the contrary if you get to captivate the audience in a positive way, through the laughter in our case, then it becomes easier to make them think about issues and maybe questioning their habits and ways of life».

The company, that would like to export the show beyond the French-Italian border, is working on Spanish and English versions. In June, the two clowns probably will fly in Canada.