Italy says goodbye to Pippo Di Marca, the actor and playwright of Sicilian origins died this morning after falling from the terrace of his house, which is located on the fourth floor in the Trastevere district of Rome. The 86-year-old artist died instantly. It is not yet clear whether it was an accident or a voluntary act, but the hypothesis of murder has been ruled out. From what Adnkronos reported, a note was found in the house, the contents of which have not yet been disclosed and are being examined by the police.
Actor, director, performer and playwright, Pippo Di Marca was among the protagonists of theatrical research which, between the Sixties and Seventies, sought new expressive forms, breaking with the traditional models of the scene. Born in Sicily and moved to Rome, Di Marca built his career away from the large commercial circuits, choosing a theater made of experimentation, artistic contaminations and continuous research. His debut as an actor dates back to 1969 at the Teatro La Fede in Rome, one of the symbolic places of the Italian neo-avant-garde, where he worked with Giancarlo Nanni.
Farewell to the creator of Meta-Theatre
Over the course of his long career, Pippo Di Marca has developed a concept of theater often defined as “open, visionary and total”: a scene capable of uniting words, images, gesture, music and visual arts. His research has been intertwined with the experiences of the international avant-garde and with fundamental figures of contemporary theatre, including Carmelo Bene and Leo de Berardinis.
In 1971 he made his debut as a director with “Evento-Collage n.1”, giving life to the Compagnia del Meta-Teatro, a project that would become the center of his artistic activity. Meta-Theatre was not just a company, but a creative space where to experiment with new languages and build a continuous dialogue between theatre, visual arts and contemporary culture.
Pippo Di Marca also worked in the cinema world and took part in short films and experimental works, including Giallo cromo (1973) and Staten Island (1978). It is precisely the role of Andreotti in the film “The Traitor” by Marco Bellocchio that made him known to the general public.
