Io sono un errore | I am a mistake

I am a mistake is a theatre text written by Jan Fabre in 1988.  It is a manifest that amounts almost to a profession of faith by the artist. The blunt confession I am a mistake is like a mantra that repeats and divides; the voice in this text weaves his web of confessions and meanings, sometimes as a metaphor of an artist sometimes in a protesting tone. It comes as no surprise that this piece is dedicated to the subversive film-maker (and amateur entomologist) Luis Buñuel and to Antonin Artaud.

'I am a mistake because I shape my life and work organically in accordance with my own judgement with no concern for what one ought to do or say', this is the character's frank summary of her world view and she is the first person to know that there is a price to be paid for this: that of gradual self-destruction.

Jan Fabre is for the first time staging this theatre text with the talented Italian actress Irene Urciuoli.

“I am a mistake is a dark performance that does not have the baroque tones to which Fabre has accustomed us in recent years and which touches deep chords: loneliness, inadequacy towards the expectations of others and of the world, personal freedom, illness, vice, death, rendered by Irene Urciuoli with a challenging voice, screams, sighs, emitted by a young body on the verge of dissolving." - Floriana Conte | Bee Magazine

 

Irene Urciuoli

Irene Urciuoli was born in Italy in 1992. She trained as an actress, studying with gipeto and graduating at Accademia dei Filodrammatici in Milan.

She joined Troubleyn/Jan Fabre in 2018 with the performance 'Belgian Rules/Belgium Rules' and 'Mount Olympus – To glorify the cult of tragedy' in New York in November 2018. More recently she has performed in 'The fluid force of love' (2021). Irene is also performing in the latest Troubleyn/ Jan Fabre production Peak Mytikas (On the top of Mount Olympus) - An 8-hour production (2023). Additionally, Irene is on tour with a specially created solo work by Troubleyn/Jan Fabre, 'Simona, the Gangster of Art', performed in English, French, and Italian.

Irene is also a teacher, part of the Jan Fabre Teaching Group, training new generations of performers.

"Irene Urciuoli is an incredible and talented actress. In this monologue ‘Simona, gangster of art’, she celebrates on stage her multi-personality and schizophrenic state of being what is the essence of the craft of an actor… This performance is a metaphor for art, love and passion... defending the vulnerability of beauty.” - Anna Puricella / La Repubblica